Alexander Konstantinovich Glazunov was undoubtedly the most gifted Russian composer of his generation – that is to say, those born during the 1860s – and his profound musical aptitude led him to take full advantage of the educational facilities underpinning the burgeoning interest in the arts that grew exponentially in Russia during the second half of the 19th-century. Being composed consecutively, the differences in Glazunov’s Sonatas are fascinating. Their individual tonal bases are exactly opposite: B flat minor and E minor – these keys could not be further apart. It may possibly have been the case that their appearance inspired Igor Stravinsky’s early Sonata in F sharp minor of 1903 through its acceptance of traditional structures – but Stravinsky’s Sonata is in four movements, whereas both of Glazunov’s Sonatas are in three.

Whatever the contemporaneous background to Glazunov’s Sonatas, they are excellent examples of his superlative compositional gifts.