About the creation

Paul Ben-Haim's Sonata composed in Tel-Aviv in the Autumn of 1951 and dedicated to Yehudi Menuhin, counts with this Israeli composer's most personal and forceful works. Its three movements are simple in form and poignant in content, with the Allegro energico combining the form of a prelude with the drive of a toccata; the Lento e sotto voce, played con sordino throughout, is an expressive fantasy of Mediterranean music and, though the composer asks it to be played "without colour," it produces a strangely attractive instrumental colouring by employing grace notes, trills, and ecco effects; the Molto allegro returns with the drive and force of the opening movement, with hora rhythms faintly discernible in the rhythmic texture. The Sonata was first performed by Yehudi Menuhin in Carnegie Hall, New York, on February 4, 1952; the same artist gave the Israel premiere of the work in April of the same year.