Sonata no. 1 is rather like a dramatic tone poem suggesting a hero’s journey (challenges, striving, uncertainty, searching, inner and outer struggles) — one which ends darkly, but with a glimmer of hope. The structure of this single movement work recalls classical sonata allegro form. Inspired by late 19th and early 20th century tonality, the exposition and recapitulation derive from functional, tonal harmony, while the modulatory development uses the overtone scale to explore earlier themes in new ways.