Sonata

Alban Berg composed his Piano Sonata Op. 1 in 1908 while still studying with Arnold Schoenberg. It was his first published work, and the only work he ever wrote for piano solo. This Sonata is far more accessible and popular than the more radical twelve-tone piano works of Schoenberg and Webern, and is the undisputed piano masterwork of the Second Viennese School, and an important addition to 20th century piano repoertoire. In this work, Berg successfully combines modern devices with traditional ones, producing a remarkably cogent one-movement sonata in which all of the material grows organically from the 'leitmotif' stated in the opening measures.