
Matthews, David: Piano Sonata Op.47
The Sonata is in three movements, sonata allegro, slow movement, and scherzo plus coda and lasts about 15 minutes either as three consecutive movements or as a piece in fifteen sections each lasting roughly a minute.It was composed for and dedicated to William Howard and first performed at the Deal Festival in 1989.
David Matthews writes:
'....I had the sound of Schubert sonatas in mind while I was writing the piece, ......I was aiming at the clarity and relative spareness of Schubert's textures. There is a lot of two part writing, and sometimes a big space between the treble and the bass. There are also a great number of rests: the dramatic use of silence is an important feature, especially in the first movement......'