PETER TCHAIKOVSKY (1840-1893): Piano Sonata in C Sharp Minor, Op. 80, The Seasons, Op. 37b.

Description: For a long time, only Emil Gilels had a recording of the early (forget the opus number) Tchaikovsky sonata which was finished before he had left the conservatory in 1866. Michael Ponti in the 70s and Leslie Howard in the late 80s or early 90s recorded it and there are two other hard-to-get offerings since then. It's a full-scale work in four movements lasting 27 minutes here but you're not going to think of Tchaikovsky when you hear it - except for the scherzo, which the composer adapted the following year for his Symphony No. 1. The antecedents for this very Romantic piece are Schumann and early German Romanticism. This is its first recording at budget price. Ilya Rachkovsky (piano).