Classical Music | Piano Music

Recorded on 07/25/2012, uploaded on 12/04/2012

Musician's or Publisher's Notes

Sergei Prokofiev composed three piano sonatas during the brutal and unforgiving years of World War II that have become known simply as the War Sonatas. When Nazi Germany unleashed its brutal hammer stroke against the Soviet Union in 1941, Stalin and his government was forced to turn its attention outward. Restrictions on composers and other artists were temporary relaxed, and Prokofiev found a momentary freedom to express his own artistic voice. Many compositions flowed from Prokofiev’s pen during this time, most tinged with biting ironies and tragedy. On the surface, one may view these works, of which the War Sonatas are certainly a part, as the composer’s reflections on a world engulfed in war. Yet, beneath the surface, it is more likely there were a personal criticism, in the only outlet available, of Stalin’s ruthless and oppressive rule. Of these works, the War Sonatas lie in proximity to a particularly tragic story.

In June of 1939, Prokofiev’s close friend and colleague. Vsevolod Meyerhold, was arrested by Stalin’s Secret Police just before he was to begin rehearsing the composer’s latest opera Semyon Kotko. The following year, on February 2, Meyerhold was shot. His death was never publicly acknowledged, let alone even known about until after Stalin’s oppressive rule had ended. However, only a month after Meyerhold’s arrest, his wife was brutally murdered, and was not so neatly swept under the rug. In the wake of losing a close friend and the news of his widow’s murder, Prokofiev received an official request to compose a celebratory piece for Stalin’s sixtieth birthday. After feigning such joy and admiration for Stalin, Prokofiev set about later that year to compose his bitterly tragic War Sonatas.

Subtitled “Stalingrad,” the Seventh Piano Sonata is the shortest of the War Sonatas. Composed between 1939 and 1942, it was premiered by Sviatoslav Richter in Moscow on January 18, 1943. Ironically, the sonata later won a Stalin Prize. Cast in three movements, two rhythmic and energetic movements frame the lyrical and sentimental central Andante. Of the three, the toccata-like finale is the most famous, which through its virtuosity manages to bring the sonata to a triumphant conclusion.     Joseph DuBose

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Piano Sonata no. 7 in B-flat Major    Sergei Prokofiev

Allegro inquieto --   Andante caloroso -- Precipitato

This is the second of the Three War Sonatas. It was first performed on January 18, 1943 in Moscow by Sviatoslav Richter and won worldwide recognition almost immediately.  Francis Poulenc said of the 7^th Sonata: "The first movement has an astonishing balance and suddenness. The magnificent Andante with a simple modulation takes us to the abyss of dreams, right till the moment when the tragic sound of bells brings us back to sadness and gloomy reality.”  The stormy and victorious Finale written in 7/8 is one of the highlights of Russian piano literature.

Richter, who was chosen to perform this piece in front of Stalin himself, emphasized the sound of military machinery. He underlined the dominance of chaos and incertitude, depicting almighty destructive forces of war. But gradually, an opposing force is created... it advances and gains increasing power as it goes through the battle, transforming itself into the profound and unstoppable force of Victory.         Anastasya Terenkova

Courtesy of International Music Foundation.