Piano Sonata No. 1
Piano Sonata No. 1, composed 1987-1988, dedicated to and built partly on the musical monogram of pianist Vladimir Feltsman. The work reflects Schnittke's mature polystylistic language, in which tonal allusions, aggressive dissonance, and quotation-like gestures coexist in an unstable, constantly shifting surface. The first sonata is among the most technically demanding of his piano works and one of the first to show the more austere, concentrated style that would characterise his final creative period.