Sergei Prokofjew

Sonata no. 2 for Violin and Piano op. 94a

Prokofiev’s Second Violin Sonata was originally a work for flute and piano. Composed in 1943, the Flute Sonata op. 94 immediately aroused the interest of violinist David Oistrakh, who suggested a violin version to Prokofiev. The composer consented and, together with Oistrakh, reworked the solo part for violin. The Sonata was issued in this form in Moscow in 1946; in the USA, it became known through an edition edited by Joseph Szigeti.
The editor of our new Urtext edition is the violinist and musicologist Viktoria Zora, who has researched and written about Prokofiev’s violin sonatas for many years. She has examined all the original sources in Russian and international archives. Thus, for the first time it has been possible to make a source-critical edition of the sonata that eliminates the many errors and ambiguities of earlier editions. The informative preface by the world’s leading Prokofiev specialist Simon Morrison sheds light on the sonata’s complex genesis.