# Prokofiev Piano Sonatas



## Huilunsoittaja

Anyone here acquainted with them? Or played them?

Anyone heard the Sonata No.2? What do you think of it? I love it personally, it's a mix between the Romantic and Modern styles, especially the first movement. A very pleasant side of Prokofiev actually. I can't play it (I'm no where near that level), but I like to listen to it.


----------



## Aramis

So far I has War Sonatas by Richter and No. 3 by Weissenberg. I'm Prokofiev fan mainly because of his piano music, so yes, I enjoy his sonatas a lot. 

I'm a little bit consufed about ideas behind War Sonatas.


----------



## Guest

Oh yes, Prokofiev's Piano Sonatas are awesome pieces. The First is really Romantic and a far cry from his later pieces, but they're all incredible. At the moment I don't think I could manage to play any of them but I most definitely want to down the road. The last movement of the 8th sonata is one of my favorites.


----------



## Air

I'm playing the 6th sonata right now and maybe the 7th in the future (wouldn't dare to touch the 8th!).

---

I think these are masterpieces. Even lesser known ones like the 1st and 4th are great. The 5th is considerably weaker, though still fantastic, and the 9th is a bit enigmatic, hard to understand for those new to his music.

---

Richter didn't record a complete set, but he's still my favorite pianist for these (2nd, 4th, 6th-9th). He's so good I even have _multiple_ versions of _his_ playing in individual sonatas.

Besides that, we have Gilels, who plays a great 8th sonata and an untouchable 3rd. Yes, untouchable - Richter even said so and was afraid to perform it because of that.

A lot of modern pianists play these sonatas very well (some that I've heard and others that I haven't) - Chiu, B.Berman, Bronfman, Nissman, Kissin, and Beroff to name but a few. Everyone's probably familiar with Pollini's great rendition of the 7th already (There's also Gould, Sokolov, Argerich, Horowitz, and many others for this Sonata).

Gavrilov can be a bit eccentric, like in the 3rd and 8th sonatas - too quick, almost psychopathic, but quite astounding technically. He certainly isn't even close to reaching the same musical genius as _Gilels_ though, in _both_ of these sonatas. I'm still trying to understand why his recordings here are so highly acclaimed by some critics.

---

Anyways, Prokofiev's output for the piano is one of the most stupendous of the 20th century. Not just the Sonatas, mind you, that's only a slice of the pie! Much like his contemporary Bartok and his fellow countrymen Shostakovich, his solo piano music is one of the cornerstones of his entire oeuvre, yet many people seem to overlook it for some reason.

---

BTW, answering Aramis's question, I believe that these works were seen by many as Prokofiev's "true view" of Stalin, especially as he had just finished work on the political cantata _Zdravitsa_ ("Hail to Stalin"). It's interesting how people don't sympathize with Prokofiev's political situation in the Soviet Union as much as they do with Shostakovitch, when in many ways his position was just as bad...


----------



## Huilunsoittaja

That's cool that you can play that stuff! I love piano, and if I could, I would really want to improve my skill from what it is right now.

With Pandora Radio, I have heard clips of the various other piano sonatas, including the 7th which is my next favorite at the moment. I've also heard some of his pieces for piano such as "Diabolical Suggestion," and the piano concertos. 

I've become a great admirer of Prokofiev in general, so I've started investigating this new genre of piano music by him.


----------



## xiemeng

haha,yes,his music was on mordern times(a little bit?),in fact,i think i prefer his frist sonata,its more melodic,hehe.
at frist my teacher tell me to play his no2(is that no2 or not?i forget),i listened from cd,i was crazy,coz its so fast....and its so different from chopin"s or liszt"s music,u know ,i used to play theirs a lot.but when i start to play the sonata,i feel its more "good-looking"then the beginning,haha.
(do u understand my "chinglish"?chinese-english)


----------

