ROCK SONATA No.1

for Piano & Orchestra 1985

David Hellewell

ROCK SONATA No.1 was the solo piano piece, composed in 1973, in which Hellewell first realised his then-emerging concept of a new ‘multi-music’ embracing the idioms of both classical and popular music - a concept he first called “Classical-Rock”. But as he drew his inspiration from a background of diverse and seemingly-opposed sources such as Jazz, Classical, Rock , Baroque, Latin-American. Medieval, Blues, Funk. Romantic music, et al. he decided to use the generic designation of “Mister D” Music to describe this new form in order to differentiate it from his other music (he was by then an established avant garde classical composer).

The concept has since blossomed out into a diversity and number of compositions in many genres, from small to large scale, including orchestral, instrumental and synthesizer music; there are now many more substantial and extended piano and instrumental Rock Sonatas.

The original piano solo is retained in its original form for this orchestral version. However, the orchestra does not merely accompany the piano, but also fills out and extends the musical material; it is not a piano concerto in the conventional sense, but rather a joint exposition of the original piano music for concert performance.

The score is for medium sized orchestra of Youth Orchestra/Professional standard; the piano part (which would be better amplified) is of about Grade 8+ standard. The orchestral version was created by the composer in 1985, and was first performed by the Theatre Orchestra, conductor David King, with 16 year old Julian Bond as soloist, under the auspices of the Hampshire Education Authority, in several of their schools in July 1986. The piece is of 7 minutes duration.