Sonata in A Major: iii. Allegro vivace e capriccioso

The Sonata in A Major was composed over a period of years stretching from 1975 to 1990 in Miami and Tangier. A large-scale historicist composition, each movement focuses subtly on a different aspect of Viennese neoclassical form and style. The movements, all of which are in the "sunny" key of A major, are dedicated to Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven respectively.

The final "Allegro vivace e capriccioso" is a rondo which pays tribute to Beethoven. The sprightly first theme, with its fanfare-like repeated notes, modulates swiftly from the tonic to the dominant. After a long transition in which both hands are actively engaged in elaborate figures, the somewhat more songful second theme, distinguished by ascending leaps, appears in E major (m. 45). A retransition based on previous material and cadenza-like elements leads to a rhythmically modified restatement of the first theme (mm. 71-86). An extended development section--instead of the more typical third theme--follows at once. Although virtually all of its ideas are traceable to the exposition, they are given entirely new interpretations through inversion, recasting in the minor mode, and remote modulations. Even the second theme makes a striking albeit abridged appearance in the far-removed key of E-flat major (mm. 117 ff.) before a dramatic crescendo and virtuosic lead-in returns to a final statement of the principal theme. A brilliant transition and playful coda based on a tonic pedal point bring this poetically expansive sonata to a resounding conclusion.