Alto saxophone : piano
(17 minutes)
Commissioned by Kyle Horch
First Performance:
14 October, 1993
Blackheath Concert Hall
London - England
Kyle Horch - alto saxophone
Pamela Lidiard - piano
Eremitani Sonata - 1st movement
Kyle Horch and Pavel Timofeyevsky (live recording)
Eremitani Sonata - 2nd movement
Kyle Horch and Pavel Timofeyevsky (live recording)
Eremitani Sonata - 3rd movement
Kyle Horch and Pavel Timofeyevsky (live recording)
Programme Notes :
This work was commissioned by Kyle Horch, who gave the first performance at the Blackheath Concert Halls, on 14th October, 1993, with Pamela
Lidiard, piano.
In this work the saxophone and piano share the material equally. There are references to two motifs from Liszt's Dante sonata,
one being the falling augmented fourth interval in a dotted rhythm, the other a melodic figure based on a semitone.
While composing this work I heard the Dante sonata on the radio and the augmented fourth motif seemed very
much implied in the opening piano chord. In the third movement after the opening, the piano plays a section
that refers to the Baroque keyboard toccata style and the writing between the saxophone
and piano is in the spirit of a two part invention.
The title refers to the Eremitani Church and its immediate area in Padua, in the Veneto
region of North East Italy. It is a beautiful area, in the centre of a thriving Italian university
town.