Eremitani Sonata

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

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.