My first piano sonata, titled Nirodha Sacca was written following a period of intense existential reflection. 2015 was a year of several deaths in my family, and really my first exposure as a young man to human mortality. One of my outlets for this confusion was through music, with the result being a work that has been described by some as "sinister" or "foreboding". However in my mind, this sonata has less to do with the pain of death, and more to with the healing that follows the suffering. The title of Nirodha Sacca is taken from the third of Buddhism's 'Four Noble Truths', and roughly translates to mean "the cessation of suffering". For most people all of life is suffering in some form (greed, desire, striving), and to actually attain Nirodha Sacca is a very rare privilege only for those well on their way to Nirvana. For the common person, what these teachings can tell us is that the only way forward is to not only accept our suffering, but embrace it, for that is the only way to move forward. Composed in three movements, with no break between the second and third, Nirodha Sacca sits at a trim 13 minutes where every note is composed meaningfully. The significant similarities between the first and third movements is on a formal level a nod to the A B A' sonata forms of the past, as well as a demonstration of the circularity of life according to the buddhist model. The dissonance of the work hits its peak near the end of the second movement, representing the sorrow of death. However, by the end of the third movement, even if the tone may still be gloomy in character, a certain degree of calm is finally achieved.