Rachmaninov Piano Sonata No. 1 – Tchaikovsky The Seasons

Of the two Piano Sonatas written by Serge Rachmaninov, the first one in D minor, Op. 28 has been overshadowed by the second and by many of the composer’s less ambitious piano works. Indeed, the composer himself seems to have been unsure about the quality of the Sonata: he began it in 1907 and at some point toyed with the idea of turning it into a symphony, but ultimately decid- ed that the material was too pianistic. Having performed the Sonata privately in 1908, Rachmaninov revised it and gave it to his friend Konstantin Igumnov to premiere it in public.