Jones: Sonata for Pianoforte

Among his many compositions, Kenneth V. Jones wrote a concerto for string orchestra (1956), a concerto for oboe and strings (1963), The Pollock, an orchestral prelude (1963), O Light Invisible, a cantata for soprano, mixed chorus and orchestra (1963), a sonata for solo violin (1967), Dialysis, for violin and harpsichord (1973), Quaquaverse, for saxophone quartet (1979), Paean for organ (1983), three Sinfonias for orchestra, as well as piano works, song cycles, film, play and television scores and church music, including hymns and anthems. The Piano Sonata, Op. 4 (1950) is a concise, sharply defined score, written while the composer was still a student at the Royal College of Music. The opening Allegro moderato begins without preamble, presenting the movement's principal, upward lyrising idea at the outset. Some of the sonata's main ideas are also exploited in the lively, dance-like 'Rondo Burlesca' that taps into a vein of extrovert eccentricity, not unlike Dukas's The Sorcerer's Apprentice, or 'Uranus the Magician' from Holst's orchestral suite, The Planets. Near the end of this rumbustious finale, Jones broadens the tempo to reveal hitherto unsuspected lyrical qualities in the material before the exuberant, gawky dance prevails again.