Sonantica is a piece that contemplates the paradox of youthful death. My attention to this difficult subject began with the death of Yordanis Marin. My thoughts were given contemporary relevance by the death of Norberto Gonzales another friend of my childhood, and the events of Littleton, CO, Fort Worth, TX and the death of JFK. In order to address the paradox of youthful death compositionally, I found myself working in a spirit of Romantic music--hence the title Sonantica. I wanted the emotional expressiveness of the Romantic period, but in the technical idiom of my own time; I wanted to make a connection between two different artistic periods. Sonantica reflects on the lost dreams of youth.

Three Movements-
The first movement is rhythmically driven and fluent in expression. It employs an ostinato rhythmic pattern in the left hand that is derived from a Cuban 6/8 rhythmic pattern. The construction of the first movement is generated by the flow of ideas, with the exception of certain unrelated segments that served to set up the structure of the second movement.

The second movement is constructed in an open-design. This open-design allows me to bring together many different ideas that are related in essence, but do not share the same musical character. This type of construction is similar to a mosaic.

The third movement is composed of four different phrases. It is constructed through short developments of each idea, and the interpolation of each through a crafted structure. The third movement seems to state what it knows with serenity and clarity, but at the same time it is aware of the unknown.

Throughout the composition there is a progression from a direct statement of ideas to a more abstract and complex exposition of pitches and rhythms.
 

Abiel A.  Mir
S.D.G.