Sor | Sonata in C major, Op.15(b) | Patrik Kleemola plays on a René Lacote (1839)

Patrik Kleemola plays Fernando Sor's Sonata in C major, Op.15(b) on an original guitar by René Lacote (1839).

Fernando Sor (1778-1839)
Sonate, Op. 15 (b)

This one-movement sonata belongs to Fernando Sor's earliest known guitar works written in Spain probably at the turn of the 19th century. There is some evidence of the first versions circulating around 1806 in Spain, and it was published in Paris a few years later around 1809. It was as late as in 1814 when the first published works, in which Sor was himself involved in, appeared after his arrival in Paris. The works before this were often published without his knowledge, through different copies by hand with many flaws in them. So it's indeed difficult to form a good picture how Sor developed as a composer and a guitarist in his early stages before 1814.

The Sonata in C major showcases a confident young composer very much ahead of the game when compared to almost any other guitar composer at the time. This is among the first guitar works written in the form of an Italian opera ouverture. Prior to this one-movement guitar sonata Sor himself had already written his first opera Il Telemaco nell’lsola di Calipso in 1797 and many other works involving orchestral instruments.

In 1826 was published an interesting compilation by Antoine Meissonnier called Collection complète des œuvres de Sor, in which is included an additional remark "new edition corrected and fingered by the composer". During the 1810s-20s Meissonnier published many works by Sor, sometimes in collaboration with the composer and sometimes without his knowledge. These included works that Sor wouldn't have allowed to be published, as he mentions in his Méthode pour la guitare (1830) although not naming which works he refers to. In this new edition, Sor doesn't bother to review all the works, especially many old works from the Spanish period remain untouched although with obvious flaws in them. The ones in which he's more involved reviewing are some of the major concert works like the Gran Solo Op. 14 and the work in question in this text, Sonata Op. 15(b). It seems to tell us that Sor still had an appreciation for these old works written almost thirty years earlier in his youth as a starting composer in Spain.

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Recorded in Taivassalo Church in June 2025.
Produced by Patrik Kleemola.