Prokofiev: Piano Sonatas Nos. 1, 6 and 7 / Toccata, Op. 11

Featuring

Freddy Kempf
Sergei Prokofiev

Did you know?

1/7

Composition History

Prokofiev's Four Etudes, Op. 2, were composed in August/September 1909 and dedicated to Alexander Adolfovich Winkler (1865-1935), his piano teacher at the St. Petersburg Conservatory.

Composer Biography

Sergei Prokofiev, the composer, dedicated his Piano Sonata No. 1 to his close friend Vassily Mitrofanovich Morolyov (1880-1949).

Performer Biography

Freddy Kempf, the pianist on this recording, became the youngest winner of the BBC Young Musician of the Year Competition in 1992 at age 15.

Composition History

Prokofiev's Toccata in C major, Op. 11, composed in 1912, was inspired by Robert Schumann's Toccata, which Prokofiev had studied and performed.

Composition History

Prokofiev began work on his Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth Piano Sonatas in 1939, inspired by Romain Rolland's book about Ludwig van Beethoven.

Historical Context

Prokofiev completed his Piano Sonata No. 7 in 1942 while evacuated to Tbilisi and received the Stalin Prize, First Class, for it, with its conception influenced by the tragic events of the war.

Composer's Artistic Vision

Prokofiev regarded his First Sonata as the end of his youthful compositions and the Four Etudes as the beginning of a new, 'grown-up creative period'.