Pēteris Vasks — Sonata of Loneliness

Sonata of Loneliness is a work in three movements for solo guitar. Pēteris Vasks is a Latvian composer whose music often features a very robust sense of harmony, incorporating elements of Latvian folk music as well as a conceptually environmentalist sense for nature, both in its pristine and degraded state. Sonata of Loneliness features a variety of techniques on the guitar that are simultaneously unconventional in their use (for example, the frequent use of glissandi, or sliding notes, in the first movement, percussive tapping with the left hand, and use of a glass slide on the strings in the third movement) but also very lyrical and expressive in a way that feels natural and idiomatic to the instrument. Movements: