Kenneth Leighton

Sonata for Four Hands Op. 92

Piano duet score. 1st performance Ellesmere College, January 1986 by Richard Markham and David Nettle. Duration c. 24 minutes.
The work is in three movements and the musical thought is symphonic. The first movement (based entirely on the opening motive) goes through a series of paragraphs which eventually culminate in an extended melodic line played entirely by the treble player. The middle movement is a playful Scherzo with a rather sardonic waltz for its Trio. The slow movement (which comes last) is much more relaxed and concentrates on a D major motive with sharpened fourths, but the more intense moods of the first movement return in a suddenly impassioned middle section.