Prokofiev’s Piano Sonatas: A Guide for the Listener and the Performer0300114907, 9780300114904, 9780300145007

«  » »Description:Sergei Prokofiev is one of my favorite composers, and I have performed several of his sonatas with hopes to play more in the future. When I discovered that Boris Berman, whose Prokofiev recordings I admire, had written a book about the great Russian composer’s piano sonatas, I couldn’t wait to read it. I ended up being disappointed in the result, however. Going into this book, I was hoping for something along the lines of Messiaen, by Peter Hill (another fine pianist) and Nigel Simeone, which delved into the letters and musical sketches of another of my favorite composers to give a deep portrait of his life and works. Berman does draw on certain Russian sources that are basically inaccessible to western readers, but too often in a superficial way only (e.g. «  »Givi Ordzhonikidze observed another trait of the Ninth Sonata: the important role played by the imagery of children, » » p 194–here Berman merely quotes another author’s opinion without comment, rather than drawing on some primary source). There was some extremely valuable information that I hadn’t seen elsewhere, however, such as the comparison of Prokofiev’s manuscript for the Ninth Sonata with the published version, which has several mistakes. I wish Berman had been able to consult more manuscripts, sketches, and the like, as this would have made for a more enlightening book. After two chapters discussing Prokofiev’s life as a composer and pianist, respectively, Berman considers each sonata individually. Each of these chapters has two main sections: «  »Listening Closely » » and «  »Master Class. » » In the former, Berman gives a chronological account of what happens in each movement. When writing verbal descriptions of music, it is hard to discuss specific details without being deadly boring. Too often Berman writes sentences like the following: «  »The second theme takes shape gradually



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