Sonata for Violin and Piano

Sonata for Violin and Piano by Elizabeth Raum II: Andante con espressione Erika Raum, violin and David McIntyre, piano Purchase this disc online at: http://www.musiccentre.ca/apps/index.cfm?fuseaction=search.dspItemDetails&buyItemsID=1964 As with all of Elizabeth Raum's music, there is the scope for a strong interplay between the musicians onstage. This grows from the fact that she is a practicing orchestral oboist who realizes that much of the expression in a person's performance is a result of the separate performing personalities. In the Sonata for Violin and piano, this feature is apparent in the first movement where the violin themes, repeated identically, are changed in mood by the different character of the piano accompaniment. Later, a third perspective is created when the piano takes on the violin's melody while the violin plays yet a third accompaniment. The imagery of the second movement can be likened to swirling smoke caught up in air currents creating patterns of gentle motion. The musical lines of the piano and violin are as action and reaction, as if the motion of one is responding to the other much like a man and a woman in a ballet. A held pedal B on the piano connects the second movement to the third which is a fugue. The theme is an agitated variation of the second movement theme with the violin making the first statement. It is answered by the piano a third lower as the violin continues in a countersubject. The third entry brings in the piano left hand while the right hand continues with the countersubject and the violin plays a second countersubject. As in the first movement, this music allows the instruments to exchange personalities, styles, moods, and themes, but always within the framework of a formal fugue. Perhaps it can be said about this sonata that the composer thought of it as two people represented by the violin and the piano, musically portraying the love, strife, and passion that one finds in life. Performed Saturday, October 22, 2011, 7:30 p.m., Whitehorse United Church as part of the Western Canadian Music Awards Classical Showcase concert.