Prokofiev: Piano Sonatas Nos. 1, 3 & 5, Visions fugitives

Featuring

Alexander Melnikov
Sergei Prokofiev

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Compositional Technique

The Visions fugitives are a series of short musical 'snapshots,' ranging from thirty seconds to two minutes, aiming to convey maximum expression in a compressed duration.

Composer Biography

Sergei Prokofiev's nine piano sonatas span three periods of his life, with the first four written in his pre-revolutionary Russian period.

Composer's Artistic Vision

The Visions fugitives, a cycle of twenty pieces, were inspired by the Symbolist poet Konstantin Balmont's lines about seeing 'worlds, full of the changing play of rainbows' in each fleeting vision.

Critical Reception

Prokofiev's Sonata No. 1 initially had little success, being considered too aggressive by conservatives and not bold enough by modernists.

Composition History

Prokofiev's Sonata No. 5 was composed in 1923 in the Bavarian Alps and later revised by the composer in the final years of his life (1952-53).

Composer's Artistic Vision

The musicologist Boris Asafyev described Prokofiev's Sonata No. 1 as speaking of 'old things but in a new way,' with innovations perceptible upon first hearing.