Sonata for Microtonal Piano is a sonata for specifically microtonally tuned piano by Ben Johnston written in 1964 (see also just intonation). When the movements are played in an alternate order the piece is titled Grindlemusic.
The piece uses, "chains of just tuned (untempered) triadic intervals over the whole piano range," with very few, only seven, piano keys having octave equivalents, thus providing eighty-one different pitches (there are eighty-eight white and black keys total). "Effectively, for the listener, there are three main gradations of consonance/dissonance: (1) smooth untempered [ major and [[minor third|minor] thirds]] and fifths, which have the least amount of harshness caused by acoustical beats; (2) compounds of these...; and (3) chromatic or enharmonic intervals...which sound 'out of tune.'"
"All tempos, all phrase and section lengths, and in certain parts of the 'finale' (which opens Grindlemusic, the sequence closing with the 'scherzo'), even note-to-note timings conform to a proportional scheme derived from a single pattern of changes in AABA form. This pattern is associated with two distinct motivic groups at different points in the work." The Sonata being track order 6, 7, 8, 9. 8, being B, stays in the same place.
Movements
Sonata for Microtonal Piano
- Sonata-allegro
- Scherzo
- Slow movement
- Finale
Grindlemusic
- Premises
- Questions
- Soul Music
- Mood Music
Sonata-allegro = Questions, Scherzo = Mood Music, Slow movement = Soul Music, Finale = Premises.
References
Further reading
- Gibbens, John Jeffrey. "Design in Ben Johnston's Sonata for Microtonal Piano". Interface, Vol. 18 (1989), pp. 161–194.