The guitar for Davies seems to be an updated lute and like his Elizabethan and Jacobean predecessors he finds the sound of plucked strings suited both to dancing and to contemplation. The outer movements of this short sonataare quick the first being in clear ABAB form with a short recitando introduction the finale being a kind of hobbledehoy galliard. In between comes a slow movement of counterpoint and ornament.Duration c. 11mins.
Peter Maxwell Davies: Sonata For Guitar: Guitar: Instrumental Work