Academic Sonata Op.2 (for two pianos)

This three-movement, twelve-minute, Sonata was originally named ‘Sonata for Two Pianos’. It was written when I was a student at University College Cardiff. 

On the 17th January 1979 it was the first composition of mine to receive a professional performance when it was included in a recital given by Martin Jones and Richard McMahon in the Music Department’s ‘New Hall’. 

It was actually composed in the summer/Autumn of 1977 soon after I had completed my initial degree and, as such, is the earliest complete composition of mine to remain in my catalogue.

A decade or so later, this and three other student sonatas were rebranded ‘Academic Sonatas’ and given opus numbers. Although this was the first of these sonatas to be completed (and performed) it’s labeled Op.2 because, to start with, it was not going to include in the catalogue. This is why my second Academic Sonata (for flute and piano) is actually labeled Op.1. (Presumably I changed my mind before the future of Op. 3 and 4 (both for solo piano) were decided.

My thinking behind the use of this ‘Academic’ tag was to differentiate these early ‘student’ pieces from the more recent work I was writing at the time.