Sonata (in one movement) from Piano Music I Woodwind Quintet - Digital Sheet Music

SKU: A0.1556173

Davison was a mid-20th-century American composer, educated at Harvard and the Eastman School, who spent his career teaching at Haverford College. Although not widely known, his music is tonal and quite appealing--in a similar vein to Copland, Hindemith, David Diamond, and the like--displaying Davison's unmistakable flair and wit. The Sonata woodwind-quintet arrangement (for Flute with optional piccolo, English Horn, Clarinet in B-flat, Horn, and Bassoon with optional contrabassoon) is intended for intermediate or advanced-intermediate players. The horn part (as tends to be the case with arrangements of piano music) lies fairly low, with a range extending from (concert) F2 to B4.

Kaplan writes, "I have fond memories of studying composition with John Davison at Haverford College, where music majors received a copy of his (otherwise unpublished) book, Piano Music I. It has been a beloved companion through the years, always in a prominent place on my piano." In hopes of reviving Davison's place in the repertoire, and giving woodwind players some excellent, interesting, lesser-known works to play, Kaplan has arranged all of Piano Music I for woodwind quintet, for which it is quite well suited, and selected pieces for brass quintet as well; all are available on these online sheet-music platforms.

The Sonata in One Movement begins contemplatively but packs a surprisingly wide range of feeling into its one movement, combining propulsion with wit and the composer's characteristic allusions to Russian liturgical music and to folk dance, and coming to a calm and serene close after an 8-minute journey. It works well in a woodwind-quintet arrangement (even though here and there some notes are necessarily omitted--after all, a pianist has more than five fingers!--or raised or lowered by an octave), since the distinctive color of each instrument helps to bring out the contrapuntal lines. Note that the usual wind-quintet oboe part is here replaced by an English Horn, which is a better match to the registers chosen by the composer. Note also the optional use of the piccolo in the middle and at end of the piece (these passages can also be played effectively an octave lower on the flute) and of the contrabasoon at the end (with alternate notations for bassoon).

This is part of Kaplan's project to broaden the repertoire of music available to woodwind-quintet players by arranging both great classics and little-known gems. Several more of these arrangements have been posted to YouTube and are available for purchase on these platforms.