Nikolaj Luganski

Although Beethoven himself referred to it as a 'Sonata quasi una fantasia', his Sonata opus 27 no. 2 from 1801 became generally known as the 'Moonlight Sonata'. This epithet has been attributed to the poet Ludwig Rellstab, who upon hearing the work pictured Lake Lucerne bathed in moonlight. Indeed, it is not difficult to imagine that the play between light and dark in the first, contemplative movement would prompt poetic souls to dream of a nocturnal idyll. Chopin is usually associated with the nocturne genre, but the first such pieces were written by the Irishman John Field. It was Chopin who expanded the nocturne into a genre in its own right: lyrical, dreamlike pieces that lay bare the composer's inner soul. For any pianist-composer, Chopin's piano works remain an unavoidable point of reference. Rachmaninov's twenty-four preludes, in all major and minor keys, constitute his personal response to Chopin's twenty-four Preludes opus 28. Rachmaninov's virtuoso qualities as a pianist are reflected in these demanding miniatures. Prokofiev's (1891-1953) Sixth Sonata is the first from his triptych of 'War' sonatas, completed in February 1940. Brusque rhythms, radical registers and extremely loud sounds grippingly evoke the menacing danger of war.