SCHNITTKE A.-Sonata (1955) para Violin y Piano

Sonata 1955 for Violin and Piano
Alfred Schnittke composed the Sonata for Piano and Violin during the years 1954-55. In order to distinguish this early sonata from the three later violin sonatas, it has been designated "Sonata 1955" by the publishers.
The Sonata 1955 was composed during Schnittke's second student year. He studied composition and counterpoint (With Yevgeny Golubev) as well as instrumentation (with Nikolai Rakov) at the Moscow Conservatory from 1953 until 1958. During the first years of his studies Schnittke composed chamber music, piano music, choral music and songs. The "Sonata 1955" was written at a time when the music of Shostakovich exerted a strong influence upon Schnittke. Nonetheless, one can, already in this early work, observe an individual personality with a number of fresh ideas of its own.
Irina Schnittke came upon the manuscript of the present work when viewing the posthumous works of her husband, who died in 1998. She then turned the work over to the publishers for publication. The world premiere took place on 9 March 2003 in London (The Purcell Room) with Ivan Sokolov, piano and Daniel Hope, violin.
About the edition: the work has been edited for publication by Daniel Hope and Ivan Sokolov. Completions by the editors have been designated by brackets. Parentheses are by Alfred Schnittke. The Sonata was issued on the CD "East Meets West" (Warner Classics) in 2004.