Entries posted in "Creston Sonata"
Creston Sonata: The Beginning
I recently started playing the Creston Sonata because it’s the audition piece for CBDA, and it’s quite hard. I’ve noticed that Paul Creston doesn’t like writing key signatures, which can get a little confusing at times since it’s hard to keep up with all the sharps. Most people consider the first movement the hardest of the three movements, but I consider the third one the hardest. I really hate playing mordents, and it’s something that I should probably work on, but I’m honestly too lazy to (it’ll come back to get me later).
Out of the three movements, my favorite would probably have to be the second. I love how the piece starts off calm and serene, but it slowly builds and builds until it gets to a measure with loads of triplets (the climax, in my opinion). Playing slow songs is my forte, I believe, but I think that I need to work on my endurance since I often die in the middle of pieces.
When I went to Oakland to try out saxophones, another classical saxophonist heard me play and he told me to imagine a story for each of the movements. For me, the first movement represents a man who loves a person that could never love him back. The calming part of the first movement is where the man deludes himself into thinking that the person likes him back, but then the vigor comes back once he realizes that they’ll never be together.
The story/emotions that I attach to the second movement is where the man is trying to get over the person, but he finds it hard at first. The climax is where he finally realizes that he would be better off finding someone else that loves him back. The third movement is where he finds the true love of his life, hence the bounciness of the song.
Youtube Videos - First Movement
Comment · Permalink