Govinda Sonata
for Flute or Violin and Piano
early March--May 11, 2006
Duration: about 16 minutes
for Eric Pritchard
Eric Pritchard and Randall Love's recording
at
Duke University October, 2009
PDF ViolinScore
Violin part Cover
PDF
Flute Score Flute
part
Cover
Introduction
to
WHQR broadcast by Pat Marriott
(September 8, 2008) mp3
I. Flavors of Devotion
Allegro bhagavata [7:23] MP3 recording
II. Largo Govinda
Dark and lovely [6:56] MP3 recording
III. Power and Light
Vivace Sivaratri
[5:37] MP3 recording
Program
Notes (by Pat Marriott)
.
In
2006 I was inspired to write a piece for flute and piano, as I had nothing like
that in my list of compositions to date. I have been involved with devotion to
Krishna (among many other spiritual paths) for decades and thought this would
be a good vehicle for making music in the manner of bhakti yoga. I was in
contact with two friends who are flutists and originally devoted this flute
sonata to them; however they never performed the work. As of 2017, the flute
edition remains unperformed and unrecorded.
Historically,
there has been much interplay between flute and violin music, and here is no
exception. I started making music with violinist Eric Pritchard in early 2006,
and so I made the version for violin and piano for him to play.
About
some of the terms used in the score; Govinda
is another name of Krishna, which means literally “protector of cows”. Bhagavata means a devotee of Bhavavan, a
name of God, as well as a tradition of devotion to Krishna. Shivaratri is an annual Hindu festival
in reverence to Shiva.
This
violin and piano edition was first performed at Duke University on March 1,
2008, by Eric Pritchard, violin, and Randall Love, piano. They recorded this
sonata at Duke in October 2009.
Accidentals
hold through the measure and not beyond, and do not refer to other
octaves.
Eric Pritchard edited the violin part. In 2022, I changed the format
from legal-size to letter-size paper, which is easier to print and use
on electronic music readers. Also, I made an arrangement for E flat clarinet at the request of Fred Jacobowitz; the pianist can use the flute and piano score for this.
Musician Biographies
Randall Love, pianist, native of
Colorado, teaches piano and fortepiano at Duke. He has performed at the Piccolo
Spoleto Festival in Charleston, SC, the Boston Early Music Festival, and the
Schubert Club in St. Paul, Minnesota. He has performed Bill Robinson's music on several occasions.
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.
