Sonata No. 2
For Flute and Piano
by Eric Ewazen
Chamber Music - Sheet Music

Chamber Music flute, piano

SKU: PR.114415640

For Flute and Piano. Composed by Eric Ewazen. Sws (both). Contemporary. Set of Score and Parts. With Standard notation. Composed 2012. 36+12 pages. Duration 21 minutes. Theodore Presser Company #114-41564. Published by Theodore Presser Company (PR.114415640).

ISBN 9781598064629. UPC: 680160612031. 9x12 inches.

Eric Ewazen’s Sonata No. 2 for Flute and Piano rides on cosmopolitan sparkle inspired by a party atop Atlanta’s Hilton Towers, looking down at the city with live jazz in the background in celebration of concerts at the 1999 NFA convention. Composed for Sandra Lunte and Richard Seiler years later in 2011-12, Ewazen’s bold and dramatic second sonata is both a foil and a companion to the lyric and pastorale Sonata No. 1 (114-41442 - $18.95) from 2010-11.
Commissioned by Sandra Lunte and Richard SeilerOne of the joys of my life has been collaborating with great musicians in the creation of new pieces. The origins of my Sonata No. 2 goes back to the 1999 National Flute Association convention I attended in Atlanta, hearing flutist Sandra Lunte, horn player Rebecca Dodson, and pianist Richard Seiler giving a lovely performance of my Ballade, Pastorale and Dance. Later that evening, celebrating with the performers high up in the Hilton Towers overlooking the sparkling city of Atlanta, listening to some wonderful flute players playing equally sparkling jazz, we became lifelong friends. (No doubt our two rounds of drinks, and numerous toasts added to the festivities!) Subsequent visits to the University of Louisiana-Monroe, where these amazing players taught, kept our professional and personal ties and friendship going throughout the succeeding years, joyously culminating in Sandy and Richard commissioning a large-scale multi-movement work for them which has become my Sonata No. 2 for Flute and Piano.Even though I had just written Sonata No. 1 for Flute and Piano for my friend, the amazing flutist Marya Martin, which was also a large-scale multi-movement work, I was eager to immediately write another sonata for the instrument, this time to showcase the gorgeous playing of Sandy and Richard. (Brahms also wrote his two sonatas for clarinet back-to-back, because he was so enthusiastic about the glorious sound of the clarinet, and he had so much to say for the instrument that he couldn’t express all he wanted to say for the instrument in just one piece! He needed two pieces to write for it!) And that is exactly the way I felt about the flute. Although I have written many chamber works for flute over the years in various instrumental combinations, my two flute sonatas are the first written purely as duos with a virtuosic flute supported by an equally virtuosic piano part. There is a wealth of musical possibilities inherent in this combination, and so I was inspired to write the two sonatas back-to-back!The second sonata is bold and dramatic, shimmering with light, buoyancy, and drama – maybe reflecting that evening many years ago looking at the glittering Atlanta skyline from high up in the sky. The first movement has quickly shifting rhythms, large leaps, and gestures that jump and cascade virtuosically, with low, bell-like piano chords offsetting brilliant flute gestures which quickly rise and fall. The second movement provides an opportunity for the listener to relax and dream, to be transported to Elysian fields as the flute sings gentle melodic figures with the piano providing a subtle, ringing arpeggiated accompaniment. The final movement bursts with joyful life and energy, with the prominent, bright Lydian mode informing the celebratory, playful and once again virtuosic musical gestures in both instruments, bringing the work to a rousing and exhilarating finale.– Eric EwazenApril 2013.