Sonata Franckoniana

Sonata Franckoniana (20016) available from SheetMusicPlus.

I have a love-hate relationship with the CeĢsar Franck D Minor Symphony. It was the first large scale romantic work that I played as a member of a youth orchestra. I remember the thrill of being immersed in the overwhelming drama of the work. As I have returned to the piece over the years, I still love it, or rather I love parts of it. It is a very, very long work. It takes a while to get to the point. The point of the piece, to me, is the last movement. It is fast, exciting, maybe even joyous. The long, dark, angst-ridden build-up seemed profound to me as a teenager. I am less patient today. Now I wish Franck had simply started with the last movement. I decided to try rewriting the symphony myself. I would start with material from the last move- ment. I would use all of the basic musical material of the piece, but I would condense it down to ten to fifteen minutes of music. I had originally intended to leave the romantic character of the work intact. That intention didn't last very long. As I worked on the piece, it very quickly became more post-modern than romantic. I think that's fine. The profundity may be gone, but I think the piece is more fun this way. As I get older the scales of my life are tipping more and more toward fun and less and less toward profundity. It's kind of nice that, as I age, I see more fun ahead me even if that means I'm seeing profundity recede in the rear-view mirror. Sonata Franckoniana was written for oboist Jeanne Belfy, flutist Nicole Molumby, clarinetist Leslie Moreau, and pianist Barton Moreau. They premiered the work in the fall of 2015. A recording of the work appears on the CD Oboe Music of Robert Fruehwald with oboist Jeanne Belfy (available through iTunes).

Sonata Franckoniana, Les Boise Chamber Wind Players (excerpt).

complete recording Sonata Franckoniana is available at the iTunes Music Store.