Piano Sonata

Since the early 1970' s, I have been interested in the ways literature and painting influence musical

ideas and form-how literary images or use of color can inspire everything from the smallest

melodic shape to a work's overall structure.

The structure of Piano Sonata (1986; rev. 1987) is based upon Jasper Johns' Voice 2. Voice 2 has

gone through three transformations: originally an oil and collage tryptich (1971 ), later a three-panel

lithograph (1982), and, in a final version, a nine-panel interchangeable series made of the 1982 lithograph.

Johns borrows material from earlier works and utilizes overlapping, extension, and

repetition as the main ingredients of form. Piano Sonata is divided into three sections which reflect

three musical textures: angular and pulsating; fast runs and chords; and lyrical. As with Johns'

series, the three sections of Piano Sonata evolve into nine interactive sections and a coda.

Piano Sonata was written for Anthony de Mare and premiered on his New York debut recital in

1986.