Sunday, March 26, 2006

Landmarks (11)

Douglas Leedy: Piano Sonata 1994

With the composer's permission, I have uploaded the score as a PDF file (863kb) here.

Leedy's score -- composed entirely of octave-wide diatonic clusters, with either all naturals or a single b flat or f sharp -- is notated with elegance and efficiency. It bears the inscription ioannis caveae in memoriam, and the Cage of Cheap Imitation is a presence in the Sonata, but I also hear Cowell, and Stravinsky's Chorale in memory of Debussy (later incorporated into the Symphonies of Wind Instruments).


3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Did you find a recording of this somewhere or did you play it yourself? How did you come across the piece?

Daniel Wolf said...

The composer, an old friend, sent me the score shortly after he had finished it. I've played it a lot for myself, and I think others might enjoy it as well.

Anonymous said...

Elegance and efficiency indeed! What fascinating notation! It threw me for a loop the first time i looked at it - i didn't realize what the "code" was until i read the detailed (and easy to understand) instructions in the back. I can't wait to try this piece out for myself! Thank you and Mr. Leedy for sharing this work!