The three movements of this sonata all grow from the piano’s brief five note opening phrase with which the work begins. The first movement has an energetic forward drive led by an angry sounding cello which is then followed by a presto second movement where the two instruments try to engage in a more balanced dialogue. Unfortunately this conversation eventually disintegrates and the final, slow movement is a sad acknowledgement of this failure to communicate.

A companion piece to the Cobalt Sonata for violin, this sonata was written for Allan Heron, principle cellist of the LGSO.

John Blood’s friendship with Michael Alexander, for whom this sonata was written, dates back to their music making in Secondary School and later, when they were both students, at the Royal Academy of Music. Michael was leader of the second violins in the Ulster Orchestra for many years and is still one of their principle players.

The sonata reflects the personal idiosyncrasies and memories, likes and dislikes, of such a long and rewarding friendship. The first movement is on a large scale, full of shifting moods and with an unsettling sense of urgency. This is followed by a deeply felt slow movement and the sonata finishes with an Armageddon Galop that has, amongst other things, idiotic Christian soldiers vying with Beethoven’s Prometheus as the human race dances gleefully towards its oblivion!