Nikolay Myaskovsky’s Piano Sonata No. 2 A Compositional Analysis

Abstract

The research aims to determine the structural principles underlying Myaskovsky’s Piano Sonata No. 2 across its various compositional levels. The work was selected for its complexity and novelty in terms of melodic forms, overall structure, and tonal plan – features that are characteristic of Myaskovsky’s output and Russian-Soviet compositional experiments during the first two decades of the 20^th century.  The study uses a descriptive-analytical approach, integrating formal processual descriptions and systematic compositional analysis.

The research identifies an inventive combinatory complex of intricate thematic, tonal and gestural cycles of recurrences on various levels of the musical structure and form, which include a higher-level binary structure of “exposition/development” and “recapitulation/coda”, and an overall sonata form with a coda. It also identifies lower-level theme and variations cycles that include the main and secondary subjects, the Dies Irae theme, and cycles of recurring tonal relations.  These structural levels lead to a reinterpretation of the underlying sonata form.