Having travelled to Tucson, Arizona for the premiere of another of her works, Richter was captivated by the beauty of the Sonoran Desert. When commissioned by the Drucker Trio (Stanley and Naomi Drucker, clarinettists, and Blanche Abram, pianist), it wasthis scene that she wanted to capture musically. According to Richter, "The rich but disembodied timbre of the clarinets (in this case, both in A), especially when combined with the sonorousness of the piano, seemed to be the ideal combination of instruments for such a piece."
Biographer Sharon Mirchandani describes Sonora: "This free-form work illustrates many characteristics of Richter's style: dissonance used for expressive effect, chromatic lines, octave melodies and broken minor and diminished triads often in second inversion, extended trills always to the minor second above, attention to dynamics and articulation, and limited imitation between parts." (from Marga Richter by Sharon Mirchandani) -the publisher
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