Sonata for flute and piano (1989, revised 1994 and 2000).

The composition Sonata for Flute and Piano began in 1988 because of an invitation from Jeanne Belfy, oboe teacher at Boise State University. Jeanne asked me to write her a sonata for English horn and piano. During our conversion she reminded me of the good times we had had together as friends living in Kentucky. I decided that the piece should be concerned with thematic transformations. Each movement, while different in character, would be based on the same theme. I looked for a theme that would be familiar enough for the audience to follow it through its various transformations. Because of my friendship with Jeanne, I choose the Stephen Foster song My Old Kentucky Home. The English horn sonata was sketched out and parts of it were performed, but I never seemed to get around to actually finishing it. In 1993 the English flutist Paul Thompson asked to play one of my pieces for flute and piano. While I had written many pieces for flute, none of them included a keyboard. I decided to revive the English horn sonata as a flute sonata for Paul. I used parts of the English horn piece and composed a new second movement.

Sonata, Paul Thompson, flute, Robert Fruehwald, piano (excerpt).