Tony Bridgewater Violin Sonata no.2 by Tony Bridgewater

I was commissioned to write this new piece by Local and Live in 2015, and it is dedicated to the soloist Anna Downes.
The first movement is based on two lyrical themes, which are reprised and developed in a rhapsodic structure. There is a contrasting slow middle section, based on a repeated note motif from the first theme, and after a reprise and further development of the lyrical themes the music ends with a sense of calm and resolution.
The second movement is a playful scherzo with a triplet 'moto perpetuo' figure in the piano part. The violin melody is based on fragments of the second theme of the previous movement, and the first theme also returns in the piano accompanied by repeated bare 5ths on the violin. There is again a slow, contrasting middle section using the violin melody from the start of this movement, but this time the music returns to its previous hectic pace and builds up more and more to an exciting end.
The third and final movement is a Passacaglia, a set of variations on a repeated chord pattern although the violin theme is itself based on the first lyrical theme from the first movement. The variations run continuously with contrasts of mood and texture, but there is also an overall three part structure, with the underlying chords changing from bare and ethereal (1) to darker and more minor (2), before finally becoming brighter and major (3). The coda gets faster and is filled with rapid semiquavers, while in the closing bars the first theme of the first movement is quoted directly once more in an almost heroic style.
I was commissioned to write this new piece by Local and Live in 2015, and it is dedicated to the soloist Anna Downes.
The first movement is based on two lyrical themes, which are reprised and developed in a rhapsodic structure. There is a contrasting slow middle section, based on a repeated note motif from the first theme, and after a reprise and further development of the lyrical themes the music ends with a sense of calm and resolution.
The second movement is a playful scherzo with a triplet 'moto perpetuo' figure in the piano part. The violin melody is based on fragments of the second theme of the previous movement, and the first theme also returns in the piano accompanied by repeated bare 5ths on the violin. There is again a slow, contrasting middle section using the violin melody from the start of this movement, but this time the music returns to its previous hectic pace and builds up more and more to an exciting end.
The third and final movement is a Passacaglia, a set of variations on a repeated chord pattern although the violin theme is itself based on the first lyrical theme from the first movement. The variations run continuously with contrasts of mood and texture, but there is also an overall three part structure, with the underlying chords changing from bare and ethereal (1) to darker and more minor (2), before finally becoming brighter and major (3). The coda gets faster and is filled with rapid semiquavers, while in the closing bars the first theme of the first movement is quoted directly once more in an almost heroic style.

Contains tracks

• Bridgewater Violin Sonata No.2 1st Movement by Tony Bridgewater
• Bridgewater Violin Sonata no.2 2nd movement by Tony Bridgewater
• Bridgewater Violin Sonata no.2 3rd movement by Tony Bridgewater