Dear Harpists,
I’m wondering if anyone here has played and/or studied Sem Dresden’s Sonate for Flute and Harp. In the last movement, the rhythmic notation is a bit strange and I’m really not sure how to interpret it. There are many meter shifts between compound and duple pulses but it’s not entirely clear whether the eighth note remains the same or if the quarter pulse should be equal to the dotted quarter pulse. If the eighth note is treated equally, that does create some awkward phrases that seem to need more movement. However, if the quarter note pulse in 4/4 time becomes the dotted quarter pulse in 12/8 or 9/8, I’m not sure what to do when the meter shifts to 7/8 or 10/8. I know that Dresden was very interested in Renaissance polyphony and you can see the rhythmic influence of that repertoire on his flute/harp sonata, especially in the third movement. If anyone has deeper insight on this issue though, I would greatly appreciate your thoughts! many thanks 🙂