Leoš Janáček - Piano Sonata , II

Piano Sonata , “From the Street“ (1905-1906) I. Presentiment (Con moto) II. Death (Adagio) Rudolf Firkušný, piano This work was the composer’s direct reaction to an event he witnessed, a peaceful demonstration calling for a new Czech university that left a worker stabbed to death by a repressive bayonet. Janácek was deeply affected, and wrote his only piano sonata on an impulse. The work is highly dramatic and original, having been written without any concern to make it properly pianistic. Originally it comprised three programmatic movements, each one in sonata form. After its premiere the composer, in a fit of depression, destroyed the manuscript and threw the pieces into the Vltava River. The first two parts were reconstructed from copies with the help of the performer who premiered it. What has survived are two brief movements, of similar length, in E flat minor. In the first, entitled “Foreboding,“ con moto, the first subject begins calmly with a wistful motive that is soon reiterated more inte