wow, I'm not used to this from you (in a good way!!) as it's almost impressionistic. It's beautiful.

This composition is really interesting for me, I love the mixture of emotions that are put into this track, especially with the Bassoon. I really like the intimate, mysterious, and intense moments that the two instruments create in this composition 🙌

The bassoon and piano go really well together. Really nice piece.

@neovamp: Thanks, Sander, it's about the relationship between Edison and his wife, Mina, so there's definitely a story embedded in this movement.

Another awesome piece.  Very nice, Robert!!

Glad I looked this up, otherwise the morse code metaphor would have been lost. I would still have had a great track but it would have been missing something.

Sonata for Bassoon and Piano
Duration: 15'
Publisher: Bill Holab Music: http://www.billholabmusic.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=103_137&products_id=1302
For More Information: https://robertpaterson.com/sonata-for-bassoon-and-piano

PROGRAM NOTES (SHORT VERSION FOR PROGRAMS) 
When I first began to plan this sonata for bassoon and piano, I had no idea that I would be inspired by something so overtly programmatic, let alone by an American, historical figure who was alive well before I was born. I knew that the premiere would take place at the Thomas Edison Inn in Port Huron, Michigan, and my curiosity eventually took hold and I started reading up on Thomas Edison’s inventions and his life. I was immediately hooked: many of his experiences and beliefs resonated with me. I could not stop thinking about him or his inventions and they ended up providing a Romantic and technical inspiration for this piece.

The first movement, Edison’s Ears, is inspired by a legendary story about the ear problems Edison suffered from throughout his childhood in Port Huron. According to this tale, when he was 15, a train accident further injured his ears. When he tried to jump on the moving train, the conductor grabbed him by his ears to help pull him up. The young Edison said he felt something snap inside his head, and he soon began to lose much of his hearing. The thought of something “snapping inside his head” made me think how, as morbid as this is, inventing something musical from this story might have humored him. The middle of the movement reaches its peak with a loud, staccato “snapping” chord. The beginning of this movement sounds somewhat mechanical and is the first of three locomotive sections (based on three musical quotes) that progressively increase in tempo. The end of the movement gradually descends in register and dies away, much like a hyper-speed, fast-forward toward his eventual and inevitable hearing loss.

The second movement, Mina’s Tapping, draws its inspiration from a story about Edison’s second wife, Mina Miller. The story goes that they were introduced to each other by his life-long friend Ezra Gilliland: “Their courtship ended when Edison tapped out a proposal for marriage on Mina’s hand. In their many years together the pair communicated via Morse code. When attending meetings or at gatherings with friends, Mina would tap out the discussions in Morse code on her deaf husband’s hand. Despite his long hours away from home, Thomas and Mina were totally devoted to each other and profoundly in love.” In this movement, Edison is represented by long melodic lines; Mina is represented by heartbeat-like, pulsed chords derived from the dots, dashes and spaces of Morse code.

Edison is also responsible for creating a revolutionary business model, the world’s first “invention factory.” The final movement,Invention Factory Eureka, is inspired by this, and the one invention that is said to have been Edison’s only true “Eureka!” invention, the cylinder phonograph. The opening motivic material in this movement is derived from the word “Eureka!” The many bright ‘dings’ throughout the middle of the movement represent the cliché of a light bulb appearing above someone’s head when they have a bright idea. This image ties in nicely to Edison, his inventions and his one “eureka” moment.

Cornucopia

Sonata for Bassoon and Piano - II. Mina's Tapping

American composer Robert Paterson is a true New Yorker—born and bred in Buffalo, he lived in Rochester and Ithaca for over ten years, in New York City for over twenty years, and now lives in Saratoga Springs, near the Adirondacks. Paterson’s colorful music embraces a wide variety of themes, everything from goddesses and online dating to mathematics and the environment. His music is filled with emotion and fierce rhythmic energy, marked by elegance, wit, and meticulous craftsmanship. Named Composer of The Year by the Classical Recording Foundation at Carnegie Hall, Paterson is the winner of the Alfred I. DuPont Award, and his opera Three Way won the Grammy® under Best Classical Producer of the Year. His music is often a Best of the Year pick on National Public Radio. His orchestral tone poem, Dark Mountains, regularly airs on NPR’s Performance Today. Three Way premiered with Nashville Opera, then BAM (Brooklyn Academy of Music), and across the United States. Minnesota Orchestra, Louisville Orchestra, The Oratorio Society of New York, Buffalo Philharmonic, Albany Pro Musica, Albany Symphony, Musica Sacra, Austin Symphony, Vermont Symphony, and ensembles worldwide perform his works. Paterson gives masterclasses at the Curtis Institute of Music, New York University, the Aspen Music Festival, the Cleveland Institute of Music, and more. He is the Artistic Director and house composer for Mostly Modern Projects. Robert is a lifelong vegan and advocates for animals and the environment, celebrating the natural world with ground-breaking works such as his Triple Concerto, A New Eaarth, Listen, and I Go Among Trees.

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