Sonata for Piccolo and Piano

Polystilism bursts into shards that spread over the entire score of Rudi Tas' Sonata for piccolo and piano (2022). Tas' predilection for amalgamation, in which styles as disparate as Baroque, lmpressionism and Neoclassicism drive each other into sound, reveals that he is just as much a child of his time as he is a link in the tradition of retrospective eclecticism. The friction between the different styles generates the energy that drives the notes.

Tas draws a soundscape like a hall of mirrors out of this ingenious mix in which the piccolo appears in every possible guise: it is an ode to the instrument's versatility. Although often dismissed as a sound effect with a narrative function because of its punchy top register, the piccolo has other qualities: they range from ethereally charming sounds in its middle register to meditative and melancholic qualities in the low register.

This sonic spectrum is addressed in the Sonata by motion that swings from exuberance to stillness and back again. The rhythmic tenacity of the opening movement sets the parameters for the musical dialogue, after which the central movement swirls from breathless exploration to sensual entanglement. Tonal relationships are bent backwards and forwards in the final movement; the piccolo and piano dance around the subject until their joint descent suggests a new mode of coexistence.

[Sofie Taes, translation: Peter Lockwood]