Sona
ta 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 - intermediate SKU: M7.GHE-701 Pour la guitare. Composed by...(+)
Guitar - intermediate
SKU: M7.GHE-701
Pour la guitare.
Composed by Antoine de
Lhoyer. Edited by Erik
Stenstadvold. This
edition: Saddle-wire
stitching. Sheet music.
Performing score,
Critical Edition. Op. 27.
20 pages. MDS (Music
Distribution Services)
#GHE 701. Published by
MDS (Music Distribution
Services) (M7.GHE-701).
ISBN 9783890447018.
English.
We proudly
present this new modern
critical edition of
Antoine de Lhoyer's Six
Exercices Op. 27,
originally published in
Paris around 1812. These
exercises, originally
written for 5-string
guitar, are remarkably
advanced for their time
and well worth playing;
the rapid arpeggio
patterns and daring
harmonic shifts in some
of them may bring even
Villa-Lobos to mind. The
Six Exercices Op. 27 were
arranged by Giuliani and
published some 7 years
later under his name as
Six Preludes Op. 83. The
exercises were originally
written for 5-string
guitar. We have added
alternative readings for
using the 6th string, an
often employed publishing
practice of the period.
The music is edited and
fingered by Erik
Stenstadvold, an
authority on the guitar
repertoire of the early
19th century. There is
also an informative
preface, with full
biographical details and
critical notes.
