Solo Guitar - Level 5 - Digital Download

SKU: A0.985325

Composed by Jeremiah Lawson. Contemporary. Individual part. 9 pages. Jeremiah Lawson #6012233. Published by Jeremiah Lawson (A0.985325).

Guitar Sonata No. 5 in G major is open G tuning. It is in three movements and performance time is abut 10 to 10:15.  Movements 1 and 3 are to be played using a glass or bronze slide worn on the fourth finger. The movements are:

1. Hobo Spider Blues
2. Ragged) and Sor(e) (after Sor's Op. 29, 10)
3. Ricardo de Yakima

The first movement is a set of bottleneck technique variations on an original blues theme. Each variation explores different timbrel possibilities such as ordinary tone, pizzicato, sul tasto, and ponticello before recapitulating the original form of the blues theme.

The second movement reconceives Sor's study in E flat from his Op. 29 as a ragtime sonata form, with a developmental intrusion from another Sor etude.  This ragtime sonata leads attaca into the final movement.

The third movement is another set of variations, this time on a two-step dance theme cast in the form of a menuet.  It was common in early 19th century guitar sonatas to end with a menuet and so I opted to end with a menuet with variations.  In sharp contrast to my first guitar sonata, which drew inspiration from late Beethoven piano sonatas and late Shostakovich string quartets, the inspirations here were Muddy Waters, Fernando Sor, Scott Joplin, Johnny Cash, and Don Helms.

This sonata was also recorded by Daniel Estrem on Estrem Plays Lawson, which was released through Magnatune in 2016.  .