Description
This piece was completed in November 1990 and was later premiered by Hallé Brass. The title, Little Sonata overcome by anachronisms, shows the work to be among one of the composer's most satirical. A twelve-note exposition is interrupted by a ragtime, and then repeated a third higher, only to be again interrupted by an arrangement of a madrigal by Antonio Banchieri. The development is based on inversions, and is stopped in its tracks by an ad libitum section where the instrumentalists play motifs from Wagner's Ring at differing speeds. The recapitulation begins with the retrogrades, but is soon interrupted by a melody from the composer's early opera Love's Labours Lost. After another vain attempt to complete the recapitulation, the operatic theme is played in its entirety, ending in robust brass quintet fashion in a fortissimo C major, and suggesting an alternative title to the piece - Bugger dodecaphony - let's have some tunes!