Listening Time: 13:16

Frankie Brackley Tolman’s paintings are in response to the ever changing beauty of her surroundings in rural New Hampshire. We share these surroundings. Inspired by her paintings, I decided to undertake a collaborative project, integrating her paintings with music and film.  

Sonata in G, a four-movement, twelve-minute work, was created in two phases.

The first was the production of the film. Focusing on Frankie’s paintings of flowers, I selected four paintings which reflected the range of her styles. In the natural light of her studio, I used the camera as an “eye” to explore her art, and then filmed three different gardens; two at Frankie’s home and another of a friend in our community. Integrating the gardens with the paintings, I created a video for each painting, botanical garden, BLUE FLAGS, It’s A Jungle Out There, and Abundance.

After completion of the film, I composed the music for the score. The intent was to convey a deep impression of the painting while following the sonata form of classical music. The piano was chosen as an instrument well suited for this work.

The four movements, titled after her paintings, are ordered as is standard for a sonata, with the first movement in a sonata-form, followed by a slow movement, then a dance, and ending with the last movement in a sonata-rondo form. 

Tonally, the work is modal, centered around the pitch of G (for gardens).  In botanical gardens, the first theme is stated in G Dorian, and followed by the second theme in D Dorian.  returning to the tonic of G Dorian, as in the classical sonata-form. 

From this first movement centered on G, the second movement progresses to the mediant of B Dorian.  Keeping this same key signature, the dance movement is in D Ionian, and the finale, Abundance, returns to G Dorian. 

Following this over arching structure, and in response to each of the paintings as well as the environs of the gardens, particular musical ideas - melodic themes, harmonies, scales - are used and developed.

The imagery of botanical gardens, the painting as well as the garden, inspired the use of spare lyrical flowing themes.  Influenced by the Asian appearing images in BLUE FLAGS, I used a pentatonic scale with quartal harmonies.  The whimsy of Frankie’s It’s A Jungle Out There, and the grand performance of the garden moth, demanded the incorporation of the New England contradance tune, There She Goes, with its traditional rhythms and harmonies.  The bold colors and brush strokes Abundance inspired a style of music associated with the impressionist composers, especially the quartal harmonies of Debussy.