Rachmaninoff: Piano Sonata No. 1 in D minor, Op. 28 | Pianist: Heegan Lee Shzen 李胜

Presenting here, my recording of Sergei Rachmaninoff's monumental Piano Sonata No. 1 in D minor, Op. 28 - A work as great as it is, but unfortunately, never got great acclaim as his others that we all know and love. My first encounter with this piece was when I was around 15, when I watched a live performance of it by the great South Korean pianist, Kun-Woo Paik. I have to admit that while it was spectacular, I did not quite "get it" back then due to its very lengthy performance time of approximately 40 minutes, and it was a time when I just started learning classical piano and hence, found the piece quite hard to follow and understand. But as they say, great things get better with time and such is the case with this exquisite work. While Rachmaninoff's Piano Sonata No. 1 often gets overshadowed by his much more popular Piano Sonata No. 2, it lurks quietly but powerfully in the background championed by great pianists who are usually known to have large repertoire such as Alexis Weissenberg, Nikolai Lugansky, Idil Biret, Ruth Laredo, and Daniil Trifonov just to name a few. Written in 1907 and completed in 1908, it is said that this work was inspired by Goethe's "Faust" with the three movements of the Sonata to be representing Faust (First movement: Allegro moderato), Gretchen (Second movement: Lento), and Mephistopheles (Third movement: Allegro molto). While Rachmaninoff downplayed this programmatic connection, it is very clear with the complexity of the music and the emotional power it gives that suggests this undeniable narrative thread. I have listened to this Sonata on and off over the last 10 years without really giving it much attention as I was too intimidated by it, but I actively started looking at it seriously in late 2025 and started learning it around December last year with the intention of recording both sonatas of Rachmaninoff for my YouTube channel. I find it such a pity that this work is not recorded and performed more frequently reason being, based on what most people say, that it is because of the extremely long performance time and incredibly difficult sprawling passages notably in the first and third movements. While that is certainly true, I find this music to be very emotionally powerful, bringing the listener and performer to a very personal intimate space, perhaps to a different dimension, on a very epic journey. The most challenging aspect about this piece to me is not so much of the technical difficulty of this work but rather, how the performer has to make everything come together and "work" musically, so that the performance does not feel like 40 minutes to the average listener. I personally regard the First Sonata of Rachmaninoff to be a towering masterpiece of trauma, passion, failure, love, success, and tragedy, among many other emotions it gives and while it is not really considered "standard repertoire" (in my opinion, it should), it certainly is up there alongside the other great sonatas of the piano literature such as the Liszt B minor Sonata, and Beethoven's Hammerklavier Sonata and I hope that I made some sort of a small contribution to the limited number of recordings and performances available of this work. Hope everyone enjoys my interpretation of this magnificent masterpiece! Please like, comment, share & subscribe! Thanks! More performances and new arrangements/covers of songs to come! Feel free to visit my website to find out more about me and follow me on social media here: Website: www.heeganlee.com Instagram: @heeganleepianist Facebook: heeganleeshzen18 #SergeiRachmaninoff #RachmaninoffPianoSonataNo1 #Rachmaninoff #PianoSonataNo1