S. Rachmaninoff - Piano Sonata No. 2 in B-Flat Minor [Op. 36] (1931 Revision)

Piano Sonata No. 2, Op. 36, is a piano sonata in B-flat minor composed by Sergei Rachmaninoff in 1913, who revised it in 1931, with the note, "The new version, revised and reduced by author."

Three years after his third piano concerto was finished, Rachmaninoff moved with his family to a house in Rome that Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky had used. It was during this time in Rome that Rachmaninoff started working on his second piano sonata. However, because both of his daughters contracted typhoid fever, he was unable to finish the composition in Rome. Instead, Rachmaninoff moved his family on to Berlin in order to consult with doctors. When the girls were well enough, Rachmaninoff traveled with his family back to his Ivanovka country estate, where he finished the second piano sonata. Its premiere took place in Kursk on 18 October 1913 (5 October in the Julian calendar).

The sonata is in three interrelated movements:

intro [00:00]

I. Allegro agitato (B-flat minor) [00:05]
II. Non allegro—Lento (E minor—E major) [09:10]
III. Allegro molto (B-flat major) [16:44]

It is unified by two Non allegro bridges between the movements. The outer movements follow sonata form.

When Rachmaninoff performed the piece at its premiere in Moscow, it was well received. However, Rachmaninoff himself was not satisfied with the work and felt that too much in the piece was superfluous. Thus, in 1931, he commenced work on a revision. Major cuts were made to the middle sections of the second and third movements and all three sections of the first movement, and some technically difficult passages were simplified.

A performance of the original version lasts approximately 25 minutes, while a performance of the revised version lasts approximately 19 minutes.

In 1940, with the composer's consent, Vladimir Horowitz created his own edition which combined elements of both the original and revised versions. His edition used more original material than revised throughout all three movements. A performance of the Horowitz revision lasts approximately 22 minutes.