Piano Sonata No. 1 (Rachmaninoff)

Background#

In November 1906, Rachmaninoff, with his wife and daughter, moved to Dresden primarily to compose a second symphony to diffuse the critical failure of his first symphony, but also to escape the distractions of Moscow. but even without distraction he had considerable difficulty in composing his first piano sonata, especially concerning its form. Begrudgingly, Rachmaninoff decided to attend only for the money, since he would have preferred to spend time on this and his Symphony No. 2 (his opera project, Monna Vanna, had been dropped). Writing to Morozov before he left in May 1907, he expressed his doubt in the musicality of the sonata and deprecated its length, even though at this time he had completed only the second movement.

Composition#

The piece is structured as a typical sonata in the Classical period:

I. Allegro moderato#

The substantial first movement Allegro moderato presents most of the thematic material and motifs revisited in the later movements. Juxtaposed in the intro is a motif revisited throughout the movement: a quiet, questioning fifth answered by a defiant authentic cadence, followed by a solemn chord progression. This densely thematic expression is taken to represent the turmoil of Faust’s mind. The movement closes quietly in D major.

II. Lento#

In key, the movement pretends to start in D major before settling in the home key of F major. Although the shortest in length and performance time, the second movement Lento provides technical difficulty in following long melodic lines, navigating multiple overlapping voices, and coherently performing the detailed climax, which includes a small cadenza.

III. Allegro molto#

Ending the sonata is the furious third movement Allegro molto. Lacking significant thematic content, the movement serves rather to exploit the piano’s character, not without expense of sonority. This movement features quotations of the Dies irae plainchant, particularly in the recapitulation’s climax. The very first measures of the first movement are revisited, and then dissolves into the enormous ending climax, a tour de force replete with full-bodied chords typical of Rachmaninoff, which decisively ends the piece in D minor.

Reception#

Rachmaninoff played early versions of the piece to Oskar von Riesemann (who later became his biographer), who did not like it. Konstantin Igumnov expressed interest upon first hearing it in Moscow, and following his suggestion Rachmaninoff cut about 110 bars. The sonata had a mediocre evaluation after Igumnov’s premiere in Moscow. Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov had died several months previously, and the burden of heading Russian classical music had fallen on this all-Rachmaninoff programme of October 17, 1908. Although the concert, which also included Rachmaninoff’s Variations on a Theme of Chopin (Op. 22, 1903), was “filled to overflowing”, one critic called the sonata dry and repetitive, however redeeming the interesting details and innovative structures were. Lee-Ann Nelson, via her 2006 dissertation, noted that Rachmaninoff’s revisions are always cuts, with the material simply excised and discarded. The hypothesis is that the frequency of negative responses to many of his pieces, not just the response to the first symphony, led to a deep insecurity, particularly with regard to length. The musicologists Efstratiou and Martyn argued against, for instance, the cuts made to the second sonata on a formal basis. Unlike other pieces, such as the second piano sonata and the fourth piano concerto, no uncut version of this piece is currently known to be extant. Today the sonata remains less well-known than Rachmaninoff’s second sonata, and is not as frequently performed or recorded. Champions of the work tend to be pianists renowned for their large repertoire. It has been recorded by Eteri Andjaparidze, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Boris Berezovsky, İdil Biret, Sergio Fiorentino, Leslie Howard, Ruth Laredo, Zlata Chochieva, Valentina Lisitsa, Nikolai Lugansky, Olli Mustonen, Robert Silverman, John Ogdon, Michael Ponti, Santiago Rodriguez, Alexander Romanovsky, Howard Shelley, Daniil Trifonov, Xiayin Wang, Rustem Hayroudinoff, Alexis Weissenberg and Steven Osborne. Lugansky performs the piece regularly.

External links#

• Piano.ru – Sheet music download
• Chubrik.ru – Audio download