Cello sonata, take 3

I wasn’t going to share this movement as I went along, because it may be good enough that you would want to hear it whole and complete the first time. But then this thing happened this morning.

There I was, cleaning up some weak-sounding bits and moving forward, when suddenly the music decided it needed a change, so it drew itself to a fermata, then double-barred itself and began a completely unexpected B section, completely different in character and goals from what had come before. This is not necessarily a problem, because ABA is a perfectly respectable form, but I hadn’t planned on using it here.

So here’s my dilemma: do I accept this new section and try to work with it a while before heading back into the higher energy of the A section, or do I squash it and channel the first part into further explorations of itself? This is the last movement of the piece, so it should sound as if it’s closing out whatever has come before, and I’m not sure the new section contributes to that feeling.

At any rate, here it is. If you want to wait to hear it finished, don’t click. If you want to give me advice, plunge right in.

III. Andante (Elegy): score | mp3

3 thoughts on “Cello sonata, take 3

  1. I am, in case you are concerned, working even as we speak on mm. 11-13 and that bizarre-sounding harmonic progression. There’s nothing wrong with the progression, if it is a bit startling. It’s merely my voicing of it that’s off.

    Just felt I had to defend myself there, because I really hate the way it sounds.

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