Anton Rubinstein: Piano Sonatas Nos. 3 & 4 – Han Chen

Anton Rubinstein stood at the heart of Russian musical life for nearly half a century and had a profound influence on generations of Russian musicians, including Tchaikovsky. His piano sonatas reveal a composer intent on uniting intellect and passion within a symphonic conception of the keyboard. With its heroic, noble themes, the Third Piano Sonata was Rubinstein’s own favourite of the set. The final Piano Sonata No. 4 represents the composer at the height of his creative command, pouring a lifetime of emotions into a single piece and distilling the paradoxical tensions between intellect and impulse, Germanic structure and Russian ardour.