Schnittke A. Sonata № 2 (Coll. Works. S. 7, Vol. 1, P. 2)

The publication of Alfred Schnittke’s Collected Works is a joint project of the Compozitor Publishing House • Saint-Petersburg, the Schnittke family archive and the Alfred Schnittke Archive at Goldsmiths College, University of London. This critical edition is intended for performers, scholars and music lovers interested in Schnittke and his music. Its main purpose is to provide them with access to his scores, which are not readily available in Russia or elsewhere. All the scores have been checked against Schnittke’s manuscripts and existing publications of his music and have been edited by leading performers who collaborated with the composer.

The Second Sonata is one of the most difficult of Schnittke’s piano works. Conscious of the Sonata’s unprecedented technical demands, the composer wrote: “Risk is a necessary thing. We all take risks every day and by doing so start something new...”

The Sonata is dedicated to the composer’s wife, Irina Schnittke, and it was she who gave the first performance in Luebeck Musikhochschule Concert Hall on the 1^st of February 1991. Irina Schnittke also recorded the Sonata (1992, Sony Classical SK 53271). 

The Second Piano Sonata has been edited for this volume by Irina Schnittke.