Piano Sonata No. 5, A landscape of Small Ruins
Piano Sonatas nos. 4, 5, and 6 were written in 2020 specifically for three pianists: Carmen Rodríguez-Peralta, Jennifer Elowsky-Fox, and Maja Tremiszewska. These three sonatas are based on original hymn tunes included in Bell’s A Hymnbook for Congregational Singing, op. 169. Sonatas 4 and 5 are based on two versions of the same hymn tune text, “Thou God of Love” by Isaac Watts (1674–1748). In Sonata No. 4 the version uses a sixteen-note series harmonically and two verses of the text are included at the end of the second and final movement with an optional vocal part.
The second version of “Thou God of Love, Thou Ever Blessed,” the basis for Sonata No. 5, is more diatonic and tonally centered in D minor. The one-movement Sonata No. 5 alternates between slow, meditative music and faster, more animated music. Fragments of the hymn tune are suggested from the beginning, but not until the end does one hear a complete statement of the melody.
The subtitle of Piano Sonata No. 5, A Landscape of Small Ruins, is taken from V.S. Naipaul’s book A Turn in the South. Although Naipaul was from Trinidad, his book begins with a prologue entitled “Down Home: A Landscape of Small Ruins.” Here he beautifully describes the county in North Carolina where Bell was reared. The “Small Ruins” are discarded farm equipment and rusted tobacco barns, part of the cultural landscape of the past.
Piano Sonata No. 5 is dedicated to Jennifer Elowsky-Fox in gratitude for her premiere performance of six of Bell’s Twenty-four Preludes and Fugues, Op. 156, on March 8, 2020, in Boston.
More Piano Works
A Brief History of Brooklyn and The Screening Room, Opus 192 1
Postcard from Ukraine for piano solo, Opus 189 2
Third Elegy, In Memory of KEO, Opus 179 3
Piano Sonata no. 7 Southern Meditations, Opus 174 4
Piano Sonata No. 6, Opus 171 5
Piano Sonata no. 4 in two movements, Opus 165 6
24 Preludes and Fugues, Opus 156 8
Piano Etudes (Book 2), Opus 146 10
Canons for the Young, Opus 145 11
9 Variations on "We Shall Overcome", Opus 132 13
Fifteen Three-Part Sinfonias, Opus 127 14
First Piano Sonatina, Opus 123 15
Twelve Lyric Preludes, Opus 116 16
INGS, Ten bagatelles for piano, Opus 115 17
Piano Etudes (Book 1), Opus 109 18
Remembering Al: Idumea Variations, Opus 91 21
Piano Sonata No. 3, Sonata Macabre, Opus 83 22
Harmony of the Spheres, Opus 82 23
Four Chorale Preludes, Opus 67 25
Suite from Hansel and Gretel, Opus 65 26
Piano Sonata No. 2 "TÂLA", Opus 61 27
Reminiscences and Reflections; Twelve Preludes and Fugues, Opus 46 28
Blues Theme with Variations, Opus 37 29
The Parable of the Parabola, Opus 30 31
First Tango in London, Opus 22 33
Miniature Diversions, Opus 15 35