Sonatine (1993)

Burkhard Mohr (b. 1955) — Sonatine (1993) for organ

1) Einstimmung mit e
2) Andante mit Quinten
3) Allegro con repetitioni

The three movements of “Sonatina” are united by titles that contain the word “with” (mit/con). The first movement “Einstumming mit e” (“Attunement with E”) presents a series of contextualizations and “reactions” to the pitch E, which is sounded frequently throughout. These consist of fast arabesques that twist above and below E as well as a chorale-like section with harmonic shifts. “Andante mit Quinten” (“Andante with Fifths”) is named for the interval of the fifth (and its inverse the fourth) that occurs throughout, especially in the middle section, where a free melody is accompanied with fifths. The final movement, “Allegro con repetitioni” (“Allegro with Repetitions”) is built from a series of energetic, rising figurations that increase and decrease in length and gain dotted “rhythmic hiccups” throughout. A brief, festive coda concludes the piece.

German composer Burkhard Mohr (b. 1955) was born in Gambach/Oberhessen and was educated in Frankfurt where he studied music and theology. He also attended the Darmstadt new music courses with Stockhausen, Kagel, Ligeti, and Xenakis. He has worked as a church musician in Frankfurt-Höchst and Wiesbaden and also taught music for many years at the technical university in Frankfurt. Mohr has composed numerous musical works in many genres, including several operas and orchestral works along with much chamber music and music for choir and organ. Mohr’s music usually concerns itself with the blurry boundaries and connections between atonal (12-tone) and tonal (triadic) materials and with the unexpected (or traditionally extended) formal designs that can result from teasing out these connections.