Fand Catalogue

  

Sonata in One Movement

for Piano

Eric Thiman

Eric Thiman is probably one of England’s most prolific twentieth century composers, with over fourteen hundred published works to his credit. His attractive output comprises songs and part-songs; anthems and other choral works; piano pieces and organ music; and some orchestral works. In connection with the composer’s Piano Sonata John Mitchell writes:

Back in 2004 I was browsing through a music dealer’s catalogue when I spotted that a manuscript of Eric Thiman’s Piano Sonata was being offered for sale. I promptly purchased it and was subsequently quite surprised to learn (from an expert on Thiman’s music) that there was no prior knowledge of this particular composition. More recently, with the encouragement and support from the Eric Thiman Collection at Southwell Minster, it has been possible to get the Sonata in print for its centenary year – this substantial work was written in the summer months of 1922. Composed as a single movement, much of it is penned in a somewhat virtuosic style, which is offset by more lyrical sections. Whether it was ever performed in Thiman’s lifetime is unknown, but it received what is probably its première during a recital by Zibo Li at the Frost School of Music in the University of Miami in December 2021.

—John Mitchell, February 2022

Happily, we have managed to gain permission to reproduce the video of Zibo Li’s performance of the work (which formed part of his doctoral recital), so it may be viewed below.

Sample pages

(Click to enlarge)

	Composer	Title	Grade	Forces	Duration
	Eric Thiman	Sonata in One Movement for Piano	Advanced (post-Grade 8)	Piano	18 mins

Recorded performance

Zibo Li, Piano
This is the first known performance of this work, and formed part of Zibo Li’s doctoral recital at the Frost School of Music (University of Miami) on 2nd Deember 2021. Grateful thanks are expressed to Zibo Li for permitting the reproduction of his performance here.

Video

This video is of Zibo Li giving the first known performance of the Sonata in One Movement at his doctoral recital on 2nd December 2021.

Catalogue code: FM245 • Published: 28th February 2022
Entry last updated: 28th February 2022