Piano Sonata #3 in A minor - Wind of Time
The "Piano Sonata #3 in A minor" by James Domine was written as an expansion of a rock song entitled "Wind of Time," composed in 1973 when the composer was the lead guitarist with the Molay Band, a group that regaled the bars and frat parties in and around Westwood during Domine's tumultuous student years at UCLA. The song offers certain harmonic peculiarities and improvisational qualities that Domine wished to expand upon in a piano solo format. An intrepid internet sleuth could probably find the original version of the song on the CD album entitled "Waiting for the Bus" by the Molay Band.
This sonata was first performed by fifteen-year old pianist Sarah Knauer in a contemporary music competition sponsored by the Music Teachers’ Association of California West San Fernando Valley Branch, in which she took first place. Ms. Knauer subsequently performed the piece in recital at Pierce College on April 13, 2008. Since that time the sonata has been performed frequently. This sonata subsequently served as the opening movement of Domine's "Piano Concerto #3 in A minor."
The sonata is cast in one movement following the traditional sonata-allegro form. The opening theme is characterized by a sustained rhythmic ostinato that is elaborated with unresolved suspended 2nd and 4th harmonies. This is followed by a contrasting lyrical passage that unfolds through a series of sequential gyrations. The development is a fantasia that employs improvisational techniques associated with rock music, and lends the piece a sense of freshness and spontaneity. The sonata returns in the recapitulation to the athleticism of the principal theme, concluding in a powerful unresolved suspension that seems to ask an unanswered question, the answer to which may someday be found in blowing on the "Wind of Time."
The "Piano Sonata #3 in A minor" by James Domine was written as an expansion of a rock song entitled "Wind of Time," composed in 1973 when the composer was the lead guitarist with the Molay Band, a group that regaled the bars and frat parties in and around Westwood during Domine's tumultuous student years at UCLA. The song offers certain harmonic peculiarities and improvisational qualities that Domine wished to expand upon in a piano solo format. An intrepid internet sleuth could probably find the original version of the song on the CD album entitled "Waiting for the Bus" by the Molay Band.
This sonata was first performed by fifteen-year old pianist Sarah Knauer in a contemporary music competition sponsored by the Music Teachers’ Association of California West San Fernando Valley Branch, in which she took first place. Ms. Knauer subsequently performed the piece in recital at Pierce College on April 13, 2008. Since that time the sonata has been performed frequently. This sonata subsequently served as the opening movement of Domine's "Piano Concerto #3 in A minor."
The sonata is cast in one movement following the traditional sonata-allegro form. The opening theme is characterized by a sustained rhythmic ostinato that is elaborated with unresolved suspended 2nd and 4th harmonies. This is followed by a contrasting lyrical passage that unfolds through a series of sequential gyrations. The development is a fantasia that employs improvisational techniques associated with rock music, and lends the piece a sense of freshness and spontaneity. The sonata returns in the recapitulation to the athleticism of the principal theme, concluding in a powerful unresolved suspension that seems to ask an unanswered question, the answer to which may someday be found in blowing on the "Wind of Time."
The "Piano Sonata #3 in A minor" by James Domine was written as an expansion of a rock song entitled "Wind of Time," composed in 1973 when the composer was the lead guitarist with the Molay Band, a group that regaled the bars and frat parties in and around Westwood during Domine's tumultuous student years at UCLA. The song offers certain harmonic peculiarities and improvisational qualities that Domine wished to expand upon in a piano solo format. An intrepid internet sleuth could probably find the original version of the song on the CD album entitled "Waiting for the Bus" by the Molay Band.
This sonata was first performed by fifteen-year old pianist Sarah Knauer in a contemporary music competition sponsored by the Music Teachers’ Association of California West San Fernando Valley Branch, in which she took first place. Ms. Knauer subsequently performed the piece in recital at Pierce College on April 13, 2008. Since that time the sonata has been performed frequently. This sonata subsequently served as the opening movement of Domine's "Piano Concerto #3 in A minor."
The sonata is cast in one movement following the traditional sonata-allegro form. The opening theme is characterized by a sustained rhythmic ostinato that is elaborated with unresolved suspended 2nd and 4th harmonies. This is followed by a contrasting lyrical passage that unfolds through a series of sequential gyrations. The development is a fantasia that employs improvisational techniques associated with rock music, and lends the piece a sense of freshness and spontaneity. The sonata returns in the recapitulation to the athleticism of the principal theme, concluding in a powerful unresolved suspension that seems to ask an unanswered question, the answer to which may someday be found in blowing on the "Wind of Time."