Prokofiev: Complete Piano Sonatas

Like many precocious composers, Prokofiev recycled themes and ideas throughout his career: the earliest example being the first of his numbered piano sonatas, which the xx-year-old composer reworked from a sonata originally composed when he was only sixteen. Stylistically, the Second Sonata of 1912 is much more like the mature Prokofiev in its structure, sonority and harmasonic language, with the contrast of the romantic, the sardonic, and the motoric. Nos 3 and 4 again reuse old material – the Fourth (1917) is subtitled ‘From Old Notebooks’ which somewhat understates its dark and even jazz-influenced moods. The Fifth (1923) presents another striking contrast with its recourse to the world of Mozart in a sublime and distanced form of neoclassicism. Online purchase or streaming (Spotify, iTunes, Amazon Music, Deezer): More Information: Composer: Sergei Prokof