Burton, E :: Sonatina

A native of Fitzgerald, Georgia, Eldin Burton studied piano and composition at the Atlanta Conservatory and Juilliard School of Music. Sonatina for flute and piano is Burton’s best-known work and is adapted from a work for solo piano written for a composition class at Julliard. Burton dedicated his composition to a fellow Julliard student, the noted flutist Samuel Baron, who debuted the performance in 1947 in New York City. Sonatina won the composition contest of the New York Flute Club in 1948 and as a first prize Burton was awarded a publishing contract for his composition with G. Schirmer Inc. Burton went on to work for G Schirmer Inc. and later retired in Sarasota, Florida.

Sonatina for flute and piano is a three-movement work with a conservative, yet unique approach to melody, harmony and rhythm. The first Allegretto grazioso movement dances gracefully with its agile tempo and song-like melody, lyrically toying with scales and arpeggios against a rich harmonic structure. Andantino Sognando, with its playful and quirky passages, is at some moments bold and at others, inquisitive; a sublime contrast to the lively and humorous triple-metered third movement, Allegro giocoso quasi fandango, that begins with lightly spirited burst of energy and races off in interesting and animated directions.

- CD Notes, Susan Hoeppner's American Flute Masterpieces