Piano Sonata No. 6 in A major, Op. 82, by Sergei Prokofiev, is the first of his three War Sonatas. It was composed between 1939–1940 and premiered April 8, 1940 in Moscow.[1]
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The sonata consists of four movements:
The first movement introduces the main motto, which is somewhat tonally unstable because it is introduced in both A major and A minor. Thus, it already introduces the uncertainty of the work. Only at the beginning the movement is somewhat tonal. The greater part of it is dominated by grinding dissonances and atonality, further increasing the despair of the work. The second movement has been described as having a march-like sound with staccato chords, the middle section being melodic. The third movement is more akin to a waltz, slower and romantic. The closing movement is a rondo, containing material from the opening movement. [2]
Pianist and writer David Burge, in his book Twentieth Century Piano Music has leveled unflattering criticisms of this sonata, writing "There is...a certain squareness about the opening and what follows, as though Prokofiev, repentant over past obscurities, was determined that everything be as obvious as possible, even to the point of being blatant." Burge is especially damning of the third movement, of which he writes, "Matters of taste arise which are impossible to dismiss. True, Prokofiev had always claimed to be a lyric composer, and one needs only to listen to the beautiful melodies of such a work as the Second Violin Concerto to know this is undeniable. But poetic lyricism should not be confused with cloying sentamentality. It is hard to imagine what he was thinking that caused him to decide that such oversweet music had a place in this, his biggest piano sonata, which otherwise aims so high, whatever it's faults". [3]
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