John McLeod: Piano Sonata No 1 [download]

John McLeod’s Piano Sonata No 1 was commissioned by Peter Evans and first performed by him at the 1978 Edinburgh Festival. It was given its London premiere at the Wigmore Hall by Bryn Turkey in April 1980. Many pianists have since taken it up and in 1996 it was recorded by Murray McLachlan on a complete CD of McLeod’s piano music.

Dr Roger B Williams writes in the CD sleeve note: Like Schubert’s Wanderer Fantasy, which in turn inspired Liszt’s great Sonata in B minor, McLeod’s sonata is a compact single movement which contains within its structure the contrasting fast-slow-fast components of classical form.

The dramatic introduction alternates Maestro brillante and Allegro moderato statements, setting out the main ideas of the sonata in fragmented form These are then subjected to extension and development, culminating in a brilliant fugato and a virtuosic coda.

Computer typeset score (17p) saved as pdf for immediate download.