Sonata ostinata

Viola sonata with piano accompaniment

Duration: 7 min. 45 sec.

Composer’s Note

This four-movement sonata was composed for violist Veronika Botos, who commissioned the piece in 2020. Its title refers to the unifying compositional principle: each movement is built around an ostinato — a repeated musical idea — though each explores a different style and character.

Originally conceived as a three-movement work, the sonata grew into four distinct movements:

• The first movement is assertive and rhythmic, centred on the pitch E and a short dotted rhythmic cell. The piano’s insistent upward motion contrasts with the viola’s sharp octave gestures, moving both upward and downward. While the ostinato initially drives the form, the viola’s interruptions gradually dissolve its dominance, and by the end, the motive appears only as a distant echo.

• The second movement is a gentle siciliano, featuring a lyrical viola line supported by a simple, understated piano accompaniment. The texture is spare, the gestures restrained.

• The third movement draws on folk idioms. With its asymmetrical, off-kilter rhythm and deliberately “mistuned” harmonies, it carries a slightly frivolous, humorous tone.

• The final movement evokes the energy of Baroque motor rhythms, with flowing sixteenth-note passages. Yet beneath its surface lies a disquieting atmosphere — the movement conjures a sense of dystopia within its perpetual motion.

Premiere:
29 September 2021, 34th Mini Festival, Budapest
Péter Bor (viola), Imre Dani (piano)