Ananda Sonata
for Violin and Piano
May 12--June 16, 2007
Duration: about 17-18 minutes
for Ananda-Eric Pritchard
Full
Score
PDF Cover Violin
Part (legal-size, for paper printing)
Violin Part (letter-size, for electronic music readers)
This was premiered
on my Feb. 28, 2012 concert at Duke.
Eric Pritchard, violin; Thomas Warburton, piano
I. Hard Times
[5:42] MP3 recording Wav file (CD quality)
Allegro non troppo
II. Allah
[5:01] MP3 recording
Wav file
Adagio alla mantra
III. Prime Times [6:47]
Highly
Eccentric MP3 recording Wav file
Ananda-Eric
Pritchard asked me to write a violin sonata for his recitals early in 2008, and
as I had none in my catalog, it sounded like a very good idea. One of my early
compositions was a sonata for violin and piano, written during my first year of
college (1973 at Eastman), but it was immature and derivative and has not
survived. This work, on the other hand, is fully mature and ready for
consumption.
I’m not by nature a programmatic
composer, so the first movement is not intended to have a literal title; however I’ve had a pretty
tough time much of my life and in some way, a good deal of my music cannot help
but reflect some of this. After I had written most of the first movement that
it seemed right to call it “Hard Times”. The second movement is intended as a
kind of mantra; quite a few of my works are best heard with a repeated series
of words mentally set to the music, and this is no exception. Since Ananda is
involved with Sufism, it was most appropriate to use Allah as the mantra. And the last movement started off in 12 but
then I knocked off a note leading to 11 per measure, then decided to continue
the prime number meter idea and ended up with most meters in 5, 7, 11, and 13.
In addition there are some fancy compound rhythms and some tricky playing,
especially for the piano. The technical requirements for the first movement are
moderate and the middle is easy, but the last movement does require real
proficiency. If this results in only the first or second movements, or both,
being performed at a future concert, this is perfectly acceptable.
For paper printing, violinists should use the
legal-size part (8.5"x14"); for electronic music readers, please use
the letter-size edition (8.5"x11").
Musician Biographies
Eric Pritchard, violinist, has been a member of Ciompi
Quartet since 1995 and was formerly the first violinist of the Alexander and
Oxford Quartets. Mr. Pritchard has taught at Miami University, San Francisco
State University, City University of New York and the North Carolina School of
the Arts. He was winner of the National Federation of Music Clubs Award in
Violin as well as the first-prize winner at the Portsmouth (England)
International String Quartet Competition and the Coleman and Fischoff national
chamber music competitions. He has performed widely as a recitalist and as
soloist with the Boston Pops and orchestras in Europe and South America. His
major teachers were Eric Rosenblith, Josef Gingold, Ivan Galamian and Isadore
Tinkleman and he holds degrees from Indiana University and the Juilliard
School. He has performed many works by Bill Robinson since 2006.
Tom Warburton retired in May of 2005 after 36 years on the musicology
faculty at the University of North Carolina. There he taught a variety of courses,
both in music history and music theory; he also received two teaching
awards. He has published on
a variety of topics, several in recent years concerning music of the United
States during the twentieth century. For
three years he was organist at Trinity United Methodist Church in Durham and
for seven years he served as Minister of Music at First Presbyterian Church,
where he conducted the Adult and Handbell Choirs.