Classical Music | Piano Music

Sergei Rachmaninov

Piano Sonata No. 2 in b-flat minor, Op.36  Play

Akira Wakabayashi Piano

Recorded on 06/23/2004, uploaded on 04/20/2009

Musician's or Publisher's Notes

Piano Sonata No. 2 in b-flat minor, Op.36 (1913 Original Edition)

Rachmaninov started work on this piece in Rome in the spring of 1913, working simultaneously on his cantata The Bells. The sonata's kinship with The Bells is evident primarily in the frequent occurrence of bell-like sonorities; examples of which include the magnificent climax of the first movement's development section; the slow movement's central episode; and several melodic, harmonic and rhythmic turns and patterns scattered throughout the piece.  A. Wakabayashi