Galanov, Yevgeni
Sergei Prokofiev: Piano Sonatas Ii
The second Prokofiev sonata volume juxtaposes two works separated by seven years and by a deep historical and poetic change. The Piano Sonata No. 6 in A major op. 82, begun in 1938 and completed before the war reached the Soviet Union, turns the purges and impending catastrophe into a collision between motor energy and lyricism, within a form governed by its opening motto-theme and by pianism shaped through ballet. The Piano Sonata No. 9 in C major op. 103 abandons overt conflict for a vigilant simplicity marked by illness, political pressure and domestic introspection. Systematic foreshadowing of the following movement binds the cycle together/ the return to childhood, grace and play opens onto an ambiguous serenity, at once an innocent encounter with the world and a premonition of death.