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The
Hands of
Sergei Rachmaninoff
Second Sonata
Rachmaninoff reffered to his Third Concerto as his "piece for elephants." If this is true, his Second Sonata would have to be his piece for rhinocerouses. It is similar structurally and technically to the concerto. Composed in 1913, the sonata, like the Third Concerto of 1909, was not an instant success with the public. It's technical challenges and musical layers transcended almost everything else in the literature at the time. With great thanks to the genious of Rachmaninoff and his surperior understanding of the keyboard, this work's technical feats are made bearable for the trained pianist. The musical aspects, on the other hand, are less conquerable. There are few who have been able to express this work well. Rachmaninoff left us with no recording, and quite frankly, he didn't like the piece. It brought him a great deal of frustration. As with his Third Concerto, Rachmaninoff felt that Horowitz played the Second Sonata better than himself and considered Horowitz's performance authoritative. In fact, after Rachmaninoff revised this work and was still dissasisfied with its setting, he gave Horowitz indefinite authority to do with the work what he pleased. The details regarding this sonata and Horowitz's changes are discussed in detail in these webpages. In 1986 John Browning recorded and did a great amount of research on the original version of this sonata. His findings and research are presented here as well. When appropriate or interesting, I have added further information to Browning's text. In the Recordings section, I have included reviews of the recordings in my collection and links to where you can buy the CD and see the tracking info.
Piano Sonata no. 2, in B-flat minor, op. 36,
- Original and Revised Editions, International Music Company
- Revised Edition, International Music Company
- Original and Revised Editions, Boosey and Hawkes
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