Music and Texts of GARY BACHLUND
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Sonatina for Oboe and Piano - (2007)
for Kai Weßler
i. Giocoso - [ 4 pages, circa 2' 00" ]
This joyous little romp through tonal domains surrounding the tonic -- those "little" upper and lower neighbors of E major and G flat major in the tonic of F major -- is decorated with many parallel three note clusters as counterpoint to the oboe's solo line. This Klang is the harmonic plan behind the motives which dominate. Additionally, the underlying "beat" equaling 66 was another plan to unify the three movements into a single format.
In the middle section of this extended song form, one sees the diminution of the harmonic rhythm as the upper and lower schemata is shortened to one half a measure, and the subsequent harmonic meandering becomes the underlayment for a most tonic, tonal solo part.
ii. Andante - [ 2 pages, circa 2' 15" ]
The middle movement is in the tradition relative minor, and yet modified reminders of the shifting tonal regions carries from the first movement into this.
iii. Allegro - [ 4 pages, circa 1' 30" ]
The allegro again revisits especially the little upper neighbor as a modulation device which drives the second statement of this movement's theme into the submediant, as was the second movement's minor key relationship to the first. Herein it becomes D major thereby leading also to its little upper neighbor, E flat. This laughing tonal adventurism is meant as additional decoration, modifying the tonic with new relationships.
[ Total duration - 10 pages, circa 5' 45" ]
The score for the Sonatina for Oboe and Piano is available as a free PDF download, though any major commercial performance or recording of the work is prohibited without prior arrangement with the composer. Click on the graphic below for this piano-oboe score and separate oboe part, fifteen pages in total.
