Sonata in A Major: ii. Andante
Portrait of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)
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 ternary "Andante cantabile" is strongly Mozartean in character with its delicately florid themes and generally cheerful countenance. This brightly optimistic mood, however, is broken by a haunting contrapuntal section in the minor (mm. 38-55) before the principal theme returns to dispel the shadows.