Christian Vasseur : Sonate No2 : Bergmann

Christian Vasseur

Bergmann Edition : 24 pages

French – born Christian Vasseur is a player of many stringed instruments related to the guitar and the lute and so his musical style has become a unique mixture of the old, and the new , and because he has been in groups as well, his music can sound at times very pop/rock too.

This 15 minute Sonata is in one very complex movement full of almost constant action, and often many places involving part writing .However it opens with a Rubato Espressivo with no key signature, the reason for which is that the music is very modern in style and a set key is definitely not the way his music works. So for example the first chord is a D, G# and C#, with the D in crotchets against long held chords. Then that same chord has a low G natural underneath, after which the music gradually rises upwards with every new chord unusual and often with clashing bass notes, like before, ending on a long – held Am with a Major 7th.Then the sequence repeats but however the climbing chords now change, this time closing on a long chord consisting of a D major with an augmented 5th and a low E bass underneath.

I went into detail to give you a small example of the sort of music this becomes, and how it sounds when you play it. Then after a slight tempo change where everything is in 2 and then 3 voices, the music changes into arpeggios, up and down the fingerboard, but also still involving unusual harmonic ideas full of broken chords that are never straight major, or minor but with many accidentals throughout .Then the tempo completely changes into a very fast 2/78 time, before then returning to the opening speed, but again with many variations.

And so the piece continues. There are many speed variations and time signatures too, but the constant inclusion of multiple accidentals throughout its duration will leave you in no doubt that this piece really does take a lot of working through before it becomes playable. There is a performance of the entire Sonata on YouTube played by the man who commissioned the piece, and gave the first performance, Baptiste Domis, in case anyone is intrigued and wants to hear the entire piece in a great performance.

Chris Dumigan