3. _Very swift and fierce_.

The _Keltic Sonata_ is generally considered MacDowell's supreme
achievement, the great culmination of his evolution toward
musical expression of immense and rare power. The sonata is a
work of great breadth and vitality, and has a sweep of line and
noble beauty of expression that is only equalled in the supreme
efforts of genius, such as Beethoven's _Appassionata_ sonata for
instance. It is a most superb poetical romance, full of the
passion and heroic fervour of the Celtic strain in MacDowell's
own nature. It searched out his finest and deepest inspiration
when he wrote it and it grew to be part of his very being
afterwards. The whole thing is a reflection of the heroic and
stirring romances in Celtic legend. It is full of a wild beauty
and sorrow, and carries us back to those far-off days when men
lived the lives that now to us seem mythical. The graduations of
tone in the sonata range from _pppp_ to _ffff_, and although its
technical difficulties are considerable, they are worth
conquering, which is more than can be said of many things over
which the modern pianist takes infinite pains. The virtuoso
aspect of the _Keltic_ sonata, however, is always lost in the
magnificent spirit of the music. All MacDowell's finest works
require not mechanical technique only, but deep intellectual and
poetical thought to bring out their finest qualities.

1. From the first bars the majesty of the work becomes apparent.
The first movement as a whole is full of the fire of Celtic
inspiration, tinged with a wild and piercing sorrow. The final
page of it contains music of stupendous power, and the limit of
extremity of tone contrast is reached in the two last bars, one