The third in a continuing series of piano sonatas/sonatinas/suites volumes, I consider this to have the potential to be a breakout album of sorts, at least as it pertains to piano compositions.

As commented in the liner notes of Vol. II, I found myself fascinated not only with the piano but with Classical piano compositions from a pretty early age. In college, I got to study Classical music in much greater depth and analysis, and although I wouldn't make use of these insights for quite a while (I got sidetracked by what Ben Folds was doing and essentially spent the next decade trying to write music similar to him), they remained in the back of my head, waiting for the doors that locked them in to be opened.

In Vol. I, I began writing my first piano sonata, the one in E-flat major. The three-movement suite took four years to complete, largely due to the fact that, although I had studied, performed, and written essays on sonatas, composing one was an entirely new thing to me. Sure, I had attempted smaller sonata-ish composition projects before (see Sonatina in F major (2000) and Sonatina in D minor (2001) off Vol. II). But I was still at an age where: 1.) I didn't know as much about Sonata form as I later would, and 2.) I was thereby much less inhibited in my writing. The two aforementioned Sonatinas are good attempts at imitating what I understood at the time about Sonata form, and I still treasure those pieces (I still play them, too). But, by definition they're not Sonatas.

Still, the Piano Sonata in E-flat major was a coup for me at the time, because it showed me that I could at least write one from start to finish. Up until this point, all other piano compositions were one-offs, and the thought of trying to write for larger projects just seemed outright daunting. (Heck, as I look through my Bandcamp album history, I note how, until the last few years, most albums are either mishmashes of pop songs & piano improvisation tracks (so as to eat up some time) or exclusively piano improvisation tracks.) Even now, in my queue of things to compose in the future I have a few larger projects in mind. I've sketched out the concepts for them. But I've barely put pencil to paper on writing the first note as of the release of this album.

Back on track. It wasn't until January 2021, when I was in a virtual artists support group where we all were invited to create art based on a single word. The word given was "solitude." This birthed the Piano Suite in B-flat major (I. Victory, II. Solitude, III. Serenity, and IV. Splendor), and after seeing how quickly all movements came together (Holy Spirit inspired, no doubt) this provided the encouragement and the foundation for writing future sonatas.

The last thing I'll say about this album was that at some point (likely after I had completed the Piano Sonata in E-flat major, and possibly after I had completed the Piano Suite in in B-flat major) I wanted to write two piano sonatas in minor keys. I even had the keys picked out in my head: B minor and F-sharp minor. I think I picked those keys, 1.) because my compositional output didn't really have much if anything in those keys, and 2.) some of my most underrated favorite pieces of music either were written in or included those keys. I'll let the individual tracks tell the stories of how those particular sonatas became written, but for now, I'll leave you with the fact that I finally had the opportunity to put on paper several different little doodles that have rattled through my head for decades.

As of this album's release, since January 2021, I have composed 17 piano pieces (15 of which are part of a currently-completed sonata or a suite) with three more to be done. I am anticipating a Vol. IV to be released sometime in the near future, and possibly a Vol. V. God is good, and to Him alone be all the glory.