Sonata
No. 6 Kharkiv for guitar
solo was composed in
2021, in the end of the
COVID-19 lockdown. At
that time my family and I
were staying in our home
city of Kharkiv (also
known as Kharkov),
Ukraine for almost two
years. We considered that
pandemic period as a
disaster, but later have
realized that it actually
was a rather happy time,
because a war came to our
homeland just a few
months later. Since 2022
a considerable fraction
of the 1.5 millions of
Kharkiv citizens have
left their homes, those
who stayed have been
living under ceaseless
missile attacks, and many
have been killed. I would
like to dedicate this
Sonata to the frontier
city of Kharkiv and, most
of all, to its citizens
suffering from the
war. Yet, the music of
the Sonata does not have
any specific program.
Here I will give a brief
overview of its main
composition elements to
facilitate future
interpretations. The
first and fourth
movements of this Sonata
are based on the
interplay between the
twelve-tone principle and
the G-major tonal center,
natural for the guitar.
Namely, the first
movement is based on the
interaction of the
G-major triad Gâ??Bâ??D
of the open guitar
strings 2â??3â??4,
ascending motif 1
involving the notes
Eâ??F#â??Aâ??C#
(originally on the first
string), and descending
motif 2 using the notes
E-â??Câ??Bbâ??A-
(originally, on the bass
string 6). These elements
supplement each other to
almost make up twelve
tones (apart from the
missing F), and the
motifs alternate with
ostinato fragments where
each note in the G major
triad is step-by-step
moved by a semitone up or
down. The second
movement is a Scherzo
involving numerous
semitones in accented
chords and fast passages,
as well as chromatic
melodic motion in the
bass voice. It is almost
atonal in some fragments,
but has an overall tonal
center of A-minor. The
third movement is a
meditative Adagio based
on a theme composed
within hexatonic scale
Dâ??Eâ??Fâ??G#â??Aâ??B
and ostinato chords
involving open bass
strings Eâ??Aâ??D and
semitone
Bâ??C. Finally, the
fourth movement is based
on the complete
twelve-tone theme
consisting of two phrases
including motifs 1 and 2
from the first movement:
Gâ??Fâ??Bbâ??Abâ??Câ??Ebâ
??D and
Eâ??Bâ??C#â??Aâ??F#. This
theme is presented in its
prime and retrograde
forms. There are
dialogues between the
first string, basses and
open middle strings,
similar to the first
movement. In the
culmination, the
twelve-tone theme is
performed using the
parallel motion of the
standard guitar G-major
chord with open middle
strings across twelve
positions. The Sonata
was premiered and
recorded (CD Naxos No.
8.574630) by the
prominent Ukrainian
guitarist Marko Topchii
who has also lived and
studied in Kharkiv. I am
extremely grateful to him
for the brilliant
performance of this
piece. I am greatly
indebted to Productions
dâ??Oz for keeping my
original notations in
places where these do not
conform to the
publisherâ??s style.
Guitar - late intermediate SKU: BT.REBFG1309 Composed by Jean-Jacques Reb...(+)
Guitar - late
intermediate
SKU:
BT.REBFG1309
Composed
by Jean-Jacques
Rebillard. Book with
Online Audio. Composed
2014. Editions J.J.
Rebillard #REBFG1309.
Published by Editions
J.J. Rebillard
(BT.REBFG1309).
