Your top 10 favourite piano sonatas

[Symphonic Addict]

Maybe it's not done yet a poll like this?

What are yours? I confess I don't know as many as I wanted, but here it goes:

Beethoven No. 32
Prokofiev No. 8
Schubert No. 20
Liszt
Stenhammar Op. 12
Dutilleux
Dukas
Barber
Novák Eroica
Reubke

[kyjo]

Great poll idea! I'm no specialist in this area, and I haven't listened to some of these in a while, but off the top of my head:

Beethoven no. 27 (an unorthodox choice, for sure, but the 2nd mvt. is just so lovely)
Brahms no. 3
Bridge
Damase
Kabalevsky no. 2
Medtner Romantica in B-flat minor (no. 12)
Prokofiev no. 6
Rachmaninoff no. 2
Schubert no. 21
Stenhammar G minor (don't know the op. 12 yet)

Runner-ups: Liszt, Dutilleux, Ginastera no. 1, Tippett no. 1, Janáček 1. X. 1905, Lutoslawski

[DaveF]

Maybe it's not done yet a poll like this?

Yes, fine idea.  I was thinking exactly the same only yesterday, and also imagining the difficulty I would have in completing an answer - so many composers just didn't write piano sonatas.  (I could easily do 10 Beethovens, but this is 1 per composer):

Schubert A major (a long way out in front)
Haydn in C, Hob.XVI.50
Beethoven Op.110
Prokofiev 8
Hindemith no.1
Janáček
Stravinsky
Weber in A flat (a recent discovery in Paul Lewis's recording)
Mozart K.576
possibly Bridge or Berg, if I knew them better

[Jo498]

I am restricting Beethoven but not to one.

Beethoven: op.109, 106, 111, 31/2
Schubert: D 959
Schumann #1
Brahms #3
Chopin #3
Mozart a minor K 310
Haydn C major #50 or 60 (the 3rd to last sonata)

[Mirror Image]

Here's my list (in no particular order):

Berg: Piano Sonata, Op. 1
Scriabin: Piano Sonata No. 2 in G-sharp minor, Op. 19 "Sonata-Fantasy"
Ives: Concord Sonata
Shostakovich: Piano Sonata No. 2 in B minor, Op. 61
Prokofiev: Piano Sonata No. 7 in B♭ major, Op. 83
Janáček: Piano Sonata 1.X.1905
Chopin: Piano Sonata No. 2 in B-flat minor, Op. 35
Liszt: Piano Sonata in B minor, S. 178
Carter: Piano Sonata
Bartók: Piano Sonata, BB 88, Sz. 80

Edit: I did away with the Hindemith for Bartók since I couldn't choose from any three of the Hindemith works.

[MusicTurner]

For 10 different composers, they'd be by

Beethoven, probably no.29, or maybe 23 or 32
Schubert, maybe D960 or D894
Chopin, no.2
Liszt, b-minor
Scriabin, no.10
Janacek, played by Postnikova
Feinberg, maybe no.9
Medtner, maybe op.22, or The Night Wind op.25,2
Prokofiev, no.7

+ maybe one by Tippett (no.3), Bridge, Roslavetz, Langgaard (Little Sonata) N.V Bentzon (no.4), Fiser (probably no.4), or Sorabji.

[Sergeant Rock]

Berg op.1
Beethoven No. 8 "Pathetique"
Beethoven No. 14 "Moonlight"
Beethoven No. 30 op.109
Beethoven No. 31 op.110
Mozart A major K.331
Ives No. 1
Prokoviev No. 2 d minor
Rachmaninoff No. 2
Strauss op.5

[Brian]

Beethoven Nos. 12, 18, 21, 30, 31 (Opp. 26, 31/3, 53, 109, 110)
Schubert Nos. 20, 21 (D. 959, 960)
Chopin 3
Scriabin 2
Janacek 1.X.1905

Honorable mention: Poulenc for two pianos

[Pohjolas Daughter]

Oh, good!  Glad to see that at least two others here have mentioned Janacek's Sonata 1 X 1905 (From the Street).  One of my all-time favorite interpretations of it:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4vH2gGgkRBs   

Will have to think about the other nine.  Chopin and Beethoven will definitely be in there. 

PD

[MusicTurner]

Oh, good!  Glad to see that at least two others here have mentioned Janacek's Sonata 1 X 1905 (From the Street).  One of my all-time favorite interpretations of it:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4vH2gGgkRBs   

(...)

PD

Indeed, such a fine work. I actually don't have Firkusny's, so an interesting link. Postnikova takes the last movement in the sonata unusually slow (5:49,10:13).
Her Janacek album on Erato is superb, IMO.

[Pohjolas Daughter]

Indeed, such a fine work. I actually don't have Firkusny's, so an interesting link. Postnikova takes the last movement in the sonata unusually slow. Her Janacek album on Erato is superb, IMO.

I'll keep an eye out for it.

PD

[Brian]

The two Firkusny recordings, Kahanek, and Haochen Zhang are my top four.

[DavidW]

Beethoven and Haydn completely dominate my favorite piano sonatas.

[Pohjolas Daughter]

The two Firkusny recordings, Kahanek, and Haochen Zhang are my top four.

I have his DG recording (both on vinyl and CD).  Did he record it for Columbia or RCA?  I'm feeling pretty certain that it would have been for RCA.  Of the two, due you have a preference Brian?

Sorry, but I've never heard of Zhang...Kahanek sounds vaguely familiar.  Did he(?) record if recentlyish for Supraphon?  And can you tell me anything about Zhang?

PD

[amw]

I can name one favourite—Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 32 in C minor, Op. 111—but there's really no other piece of music that approaches it in appeal for me.

Schumann's Fantasy in C, Op. 17, was considered a piano sonata by its composer despite its late change of title, and would probably be my second choice, but Op. 111 takes up at least ten spots by itself. Schubert's B-flat sonata D960 and A major sonata D959 would follow it in that order; after that the "Hammerklavier" and then I'm not really sure.

[Brian]

I have his DG recording (both on vinyl and CD).  Did he record it for Columbia or RCA?  I'm feeling pretty certain that it would have been for RCA.  Of the two, due you have a preference Brian?

Sorry, but I've never heard of Zhang...Kahanek sounds vaguely familiar.  Did he(?) record if recentlyish for Supraphon?  And can you tell me anything about Zhang?

PD

Oh, I didn't realize, but that would make three Firkusny recordings! He recorded it for both RCA and Columbia, with the major difference being that the Columbia album is in mono from the early 50s and RCA from almost 40 years later. DG is right in the middle of that span.

Kahanek did it in his Supraphon debut coupled to pieces by Kabelac and Martinu. He's something of a Czech specialist who's also got a great Dvorak/Martinu concerto CD, an upcoming Dvorak box, and several albums of chamber music with cellists.

Haochen Zhang is a youngster and newcomer who put 1.X.1905 on his debut recording. It's got the most enormous dynamic range of anyone, the second movement climax is simply gigantic in scale and power. That might be controversial, I can imagine someone thinking it's too much, but for me it's really impressive.

[Pohjolas Daughter]

Oh, I didn't realize, but that would make three Firkusny recordings! He recorded it for both RCA and Columbia, with the major difference being that the Columbia album is in mono from the early 50s and RCA from almost 40 years later. DG is right in the middle of that span.

Kahanek did it in his Supraphon debut coupled to pieces by Kabelac and Martinu. He's something of a Czech specialist who's also got a great Dvorak/Martinu concerto CD, an upcoming Dvorak box, and several albums of chamber music with cellists.

Haochen Zhang is a youngster and newcomer who put 1.X.1905 on his debut recording. It's got the most enormous dynamic range of anyone, the second movement climax is simply gigantic in scale and power. That might be controversial, I can imagine someone thinking it's too much, but for me it's really impressive.

I found some more information on Discogs (couldn't find an online discography/website devoted to him--which surprised me--or even which had a lot of info about his recordings.  It could be out there, but I have yet to find it).  Anyway, it shows the original covers.  So, yes, he also did it for RCA.  There's also an Orfeo CD of a live recording from 1957 recorded at the Salzburg Festival.  https://www.discogs.com/artist/1142516-Rudolf-Firkušný?query=Janacek%201905  I'll look to see if there's a thread on him and if so, I'll move this over there.  EDIT:  No luck! One last quick aside, I did stumble across this short interview/segment about him from 1988.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKhBKpWgDII  And thanks for the information on the other two pianists too! 

PD

p.s.  TD, the good thing about a thread like this is that it's encouraging me to check out piano sonatas with which I'm not familiar! 

[Symphonic Addict]

Great poll idea! I'm no specialist in this area, and I haven't listened to some of these in a while, but off the top of my head:

Beethoven no. 27 (an unorthodox choice, for sure, but the 2nd mvt. is just so lovely)
Brahms no. 3
Bridge
Damase
Kabalevsky no. 2
Medtner Romantica in B-flat minor (no. 12)
Prokofiev no. 6
Rachmaninoff no. 2
Schubert no. 21
Stenhammar G minor (don't know the op. 12 yet)

Big fan of both the Kabalevsky and Rachmaninov. The others (excluding Beethoven, Schubert and Prokofiev) are still rather unknown to me or less familiar.

[Symphonic Addict]

Yes, fine idea.  I was thinking exactly the same only yesterday, and also imagining the difficulty I would have in completing an answer - so many composers just didn't write piano sonatas.  (I could easily do 10 Beethovens, but this is 1 per composer):

Schubert A major (a long way out in front)
Haydn in C, Hob.XVI.50
Beethoven Op.110
Prokofiev 8
Hindemith no.1
Janáček
Stravinsky
Weber in A flat (a recent discovery in Paul Lewis's recording)
Mozart K.576
possibly Bridge or Berg, if I knew them better

Thumbs up for the Weber and Hindemith. Once again, the others without including Beethoven, Schubert and Prokofiev, need more familiarity from me.

[Symphonic Addict]

I am restricting Beethoven but not to one.

Beethoven: op.109, 106, 111, 31/2
Schubert: D 959
Schumann #1
Brahms #3
Chopin #3
Mozart a minor K 310
Haydn C major #50 or 60 (the 3rd to last sonata)

Oh yes, the Schumann is outstanding. In fact, all his sonatas have appealing music and developments.