Sonata for Violin and Piano (House made of Dawn)

The imagery for this work came to me from a re-reading of N. Scott Momaday's novel House Made of Dawn , the story of a young Native American man named Abel caught between two worlds. The first is the world of his fathers, a source of pride and fear, wedding him to the rhythm of the seasons, the harsh beauty of the land and the ecstasy of the drug peyote. The second is the world of twentieth century America, which used and then cast him away. The work is in one continuous movement, divided into seven sections entitled "Prologue", "The Dawn Runner", "The Feast of Santiago", "The Priest of the Sun", "The Albino", "The Way to Rainy Mountain" and "The Dawn Runner", each corresponding to episodes in the story. My intention was to create a reflection of the images in music rather than any literal interpretation of events.

P.B.

N.B. In the program, the titles of the sections of the work should be included as follows:

"Prologue"

"The Dawn Runner"

"The Feast of Santiago"

"The Priest of the Sun"

"The Albino"

"The Way to Rainy Mountain"

"The Dawn Runner"