Return to List of Compositions
Eremitani Sonata
Alto saxophone : piano
1. Allegro
2. Adagio
3. Allegro
Commissioned by Kyle Horch
Duration : 17 minutes
If you would like a pdf copy of the score to study (free of charge)
email :
(Please copy and paste this address in to your e-mail.)
Listen to a live recording of Eremitani Sonata performed by - Kyle Horch - alto saxophone and Pavel Timofejevsky - piano
(recorded 20th June, 2011 in St. Peter's Church, Notting Hill)
1st Movement
2nd Movement
3rd Movement
First Performance : Kyle Horch : alto saxophone with Pamela Lidiard : piano
14 October, 1993 : Blackheath Concert Hall, London
Video recording of Eremitani Sonata, performed in London, 20th June, 2011
Kyle Horch (alto saxophone) Pavel Timofejevsky (piano)(Many thanks to www.tools4noobs.com for converting the vimeo code into valid xhtml)
Video filmed by Richard Carruthers at Music Chamber's concert series.
Eremitani Sonata performance on Vimeo website
(opens in new window)
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. Information on the church can be found here:
www.summerinitaly.com/guide/church-of-eremitani
Original 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.