Sonata for Piano

(Solo Piano).
Total duration ca. 16 minutes (1997; revised 1999)
Published by Activist Music (ASCAP).
Three movement work: "Moderato," Lento; Andante,"
and "Scherzo."
21 pages, 8.5" x 11".

First version premiered in May 1998
in Los Angeles, CA. by Barbara Burgan.
Revised version with new first movement premiered in April 1999
in Santa Clara, CA. by Teresa McCollough.

Recorded in August 1999 by Teresa McCollough, piano.

Audio excerpts performed by Adam Marks, piano.

View the first page and hear music clips
of any of the three movements:

Sonata for Piano is a three movement work written in the structural tradition of many classical sonatas. Throughout the piece, there's an emphasis on strong melodies and rhythms and a lush use of the keyboard. The first movement, Moderato, explores two themes that are first developed independently and ultimately are interwoven as two parts of a whole. A set of jazz harmonies are implied against more angular melodic lines. The second movement, Lento; Andante, takes the listener on an emotional, dreamlike journey that leads to a passionate outburst, and the final movement, Scherzo, is just that— an impish romp through bitonality that ends with a laugh.

A GLOWING REVIEW of SONATA FOR PIANO, which appears on the 2020 Innova Recordings release ARCANA, from the March-April 2021 issue of The American Record Guide:

Shapiro: Arcana
Adam Marks, piano
Innova 041—80 minutes

"...Sonata for Piano is another favorite here. A pensive first movement whose harmonies are scrumptiously thick is balanced by a second movement whose soliloquizing melodies shine in colors both dark and bright. The final movement clocks in at less than two minutes and is a riotous romp. Marks' musicianship is in glorious display here: not only is this moto perpetuo executed with utmost crispness, but each layer of voicing can be clearly heard.

This disc is a triumph and I highly recommend spending time with the work of these two artists."

—Stephanie Ann Boyd

Click HERE to read the entire review of the 2020 album tour-de-force, ARCANA, on Ms. Boyd's website.

"...[Shapiro's] piano sonata is tough, tightly controlled motivically in the manner of mid-century American serious composers, but it is also musically tense and expressive. This is the genuine article."

— Gordon Rumson, Music & Vision Magazine
You can read the entire Rumson review here.

"...By turns contemplative, wistful and joyous, it's a highlight..."

— Jon Burlingame, music journalist, The New York Times, Variety, The Los Angeles Times

"...exciting, daring adventures in contemporary music."

— Tom Schulte, AMG All Music Guide

"...jazz hued spikiness... The scherzo closer works surprisingly well, coming off as a slam bang coda in the way the last measures of Beethoven’s first Razumovsky quartet do....
a palpable level of motivic economy, confident and easy manner of melodic speech, and clear sense of crafty sophistication. "

— David Cleary, New Music Connoisseur