Prokofiev: Complete Piano Sonatas

Sergei Prokofiev (Composer), Barbara Nissman (Performer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: Barbara Nissman
• Composer: Sergei Prokofiev
• Audio CD (February 26, 2002)
• Number of Discs: 3
• Label: Pierian / Sony
• ASIN: B000060ONX
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #113,145 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

Disc: 1

1. Piano Sonata No. 1 in F minor, Op. 1

2. Piano Sonata No. 2 in D minor, Op. 14: Allegro ma non troppo

3. Piano Sonata No. 2 in D minor, Op. 14: Scherzo. Allegro marcato

4. Piano Sonata No. 2 in D minor, Op. 14: Andante

5. Piano Sonata No. 2 in D minor, Op. 14: Vivace

6. Piano Sonata No. 3 in A minor ('From Old Notebooks'), Op. 28

See all 15 tracks on this disc

Disc: 2

1. Piano Sonata No. 6 in A major ('War Sonata 1'), Op. 82: Allegro moderato

2. Piano Sonata No. 6 in A major ('War Sonata 1'), Op. 82: Allegretto

3. Piano Sonata No. 6 in A major ('War Sonata 1'), Op. 82: Tempo di valzer lentissimo

4. Piano Sonata No. 6 in A major ('War Sonata 1'), Op. 82: Vivace

5. Piano Sonata No. 7 in B flat major ('War Sonata 2/Stalingrad'), Op. 83: Allegro inquieto - Andantino

6. Piano Sonata No. 7 in B flat major ('War Sonata 2/Stalingrad'), Op. 83: Andante caloroso

See all 10 tracks on this disc

Disc: 3

1. Piano Sonata No. 9 in C major, Op. 103: Allegretto

2. Piano Sonata No. 9 in C major, Op. 103: Allegro strepitoso

3. Piano Sonata No. 9 in C major, Op. 103: Andante tranquillo

4. Piano Sonata No. 9 in C major, Op. 103: Allegro con brio, ma non troppo presto

5. Piano Sonata No. 10 in C minor, Op. 137 (fragment)

6. Pieces (4) for piano, Op. 4: No. 1, Reminiscences

See all 35 tracks on this disc

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Prokofiev pianism to perfection, March 4, 2002

By 

I. Dando (Christchurch, New Zealand) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Prokofiev: Complete Piano Sonatas (Audio CD)

Although this was the first recording of the complete Prokofiev sonatas (undertaken in 1989), it is still for me the yardstick by which all subsequent versions are measured. Although this unjustly underrated United States pianist is a renowned Prokofiev expert she wears her scholarship joyously with an exuberance and spontaneity that lunges out of the speakers. The angularity, muscularity and acrobatics that embody Prokofiev's unpredictability are conveyed with such wit and bravura flourish. Her high sensitivity to shaping of lyrical line shows Barbara Nissman having a love affair with the most fecund melodist of the twentieth century. It's this very enthusiasm and close identity with the core of Prokofiev's style that set these performances alight. A bouquet for Pierian Recording Society in archiving this classic set of CDs and saving them permanently from the deletions axe. Ian Dando, music critic New Zealand Listener.

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A must for fans of Prokofiev piano music, March 27, 2003

By 

Timothy B. Mustaine (Wichita, KS United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Prokofiev: Complete Piano Sonatas (Audio CD)

This 3 CD set includes all of the Prokofiev piano sonatas (including both versions of No. 5 and the tiny, interesting fragment of No. 10) along with the complete Visions Fugitives, Sarcasms, the Four Pieces (Op. 4), and Toccata. All are extremely well performed, and the recording is excellent (a surprise, since this is a re-issue of an '80s Sony digital recording, and many of those were unbearably harsh-sounding).

Ms. Nissman demonstrates a very high degree of musicianship on these recordings. Literally every one of these performances is a candidate for best-ever recording of the particular piece. Considering the biggies with whom she is competing (e.g., Pogorelich in Sonata No. 6, Horowitz in No. 7, Richter in No. 8), that's saying a lot. Throw in the good modern recording, and buying this set becomes a no-brainer for people who like Prokofiev's piano music.

I can hardly wait for Nissman's forthcoming Prokofiev Piano Concertos series, especially No 2, which has never had a totally satisfactory recording (if only someone could combine the good points of Browning's and Feltsman's versions of that one).

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Self-Recommending 3CD Set, March 11, 2004

By 

J Scott Morrison (Middlebury VT, USA) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Prokofiev: Complete Piano Sonatas (Audio CD)

Many of us remember the excitement at the appearance, in the late 1980s, of Barbara Nissman's recordings of the complete Prokofiev piano sonatas on Newport Classics. It was the first complete set ever released, as far as I know, and was immediately a best seller. Unfortunately, though, the Newport CDs are no longer in print. Enter Pierian Records. Pierian Records is a non-profit company, run pretty much as a one-man show by Karl Miller in Austin, Texas and 'dedicated to the preservation of historic recordings and obscure literature.' They have released a number of recordings by Barbara Nissman, surely one of our best American pianists. [See my review of her Liszt B minor sonata CD.] Nissman is a specialist in the piano music of Prokofiev, Ginastera, and Bartók and has, in fact, written a book about the piano music of the latter. She wrote the extremely helpful notes for this 3CD set. I have heard her play most of the Prokofiev sonatas (as well as various smaller pieces) in recital and can assure you that she conveys these pieces as well as anyone before the public today. It is true that some of the pianistic big guns have recorded some of the sonatas - Richter, Cliburn, Horowitz, Argerich - and a newer virtuoso pianist, Bernd Glemser, has recorded the lot. But Nissman's traversal has stood the test of time.

This set contains all nine sonatas (plus the small bit of Sonata 10 that survives), including the two versions of Sonata 5. Also included are the Four Pieces, Op. 4; Sarcasms, Op. 17; Visions Fugitives, Op. 22, and the Toccata, Op. 11. Some highlights: A blistering Toccata. The opening statement of the first of the three 'War Sonatas,' Sonata 6. The whole of Sonatas 7 and 8, and particularly the more forceful aspects of both of them, and not forgetting the casually swinging walking tenths of No. 7's slow movement. Both versions of Sonata 5 (so often derided as inferior; Nissman makes a case for both versions). An insouciant performance of the sweetly neoclassic Sonata 9, so reminiscent of the Classical Symphony written decades before.

If you're in the market for a complete set of these epochal sonatas - perhaps the most important set of piano sonatas of the 20th century - you should strongly consider these.

CD1=74:46
CD2=70:58
CD3-64:30

Scott Morrison