DESCRIPTION:
The basis of the classical sonata form with its two themes, two parts in the first movement were clearly established by Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach. He composed over a hundred sonatas.

Six Harpsichord Sonatas (The Wurttemberg Sonatas), Wq.49 (Bach, Carl Philipp Emanuel)

Those sonatas, composed in Berlin in 1742 and published there in 1744 under the title "Opera II", are dedicated to the Duc Charles of Wurttemberg. The innovative and creative genius of Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach are expressed in those ravishing pages. The new, innovative dramatic effects are amazing: successive fermatas, unexpected silences, changes of tempos, audacious modulations, a vast keyboard range.

Sonata in B minor Wq 49/6 (H.36)
Moderato-Adagio non molto-Allegro

Starting with an improvisatory Moderato, the sixth sonata (Wq 49/6) presents an array of incredibly innovative effects. According to his commentators, the composer was playing this kind of music with a very large degree of freedom in the rhythms. The Adagio non molto, again proceeds with a singing-like texture and leads to a very brilliant finale.

Mehmet Okonsar, pianist, composer, conductor and musicologist is the First Prize Winner at the International Young Virtuosos Competition, Antwerp, Belgium, 1982 and laureate of other prestigious international piano competitions such as the Gina Bachauer, Sixth Prize, Salt Lake City-UT, 1991 and J. S. Bach, Second Prize, Paris, France 1989.

He is graduated from the Brussels Royal Conservatory of Music on piano, composition and orchestration. He studied with Jean-Claude Vanden Eynden and Madame Jacqueline Fontyn. He has been a pupil of Alexis Weissenberg.

Mehmet Okonsar performed in major concert halls in Europe, North America and Japan both solo and orchestral. He was special guest judge for the National Piano Competition of Japan (1999) P.T.N.A. (To-On). His researches in music related technologies were broadcast in a series of documentaries presented by the artist on the National Broadcast of Turkey (TRT).

Mr. Okonsar is a prolific composer of orchestral, chamber, choral and piano music. His composing line is highly avant-garde and complex. Also a musicologist, writer and lecturer, Mr. Okonsar's writings are published in English and French and he is lecturing on music, composing and related technology.

His recital programs are usually highly eclectic and often thematic mixing works by A. Webern, A. Berg, I. Stravinsky, K. Stockhausen, P. Boulez and L. Berio with the more traditional piano repertoire.