Finest Cycle of Non-Austro-Germanic Piano Sonatas?

[Wanderer]

Medtner, Scriabin and Prokofiev are the top three as far as I'm concerned. And I believe it has been established by the wider scientific community that the Boulez sonatas are classified as sound conglomerates rather than works of music.  😀

[Florestan]

Medtner, Scriabin and Prokofiev are the top three as far as I'm concerned.

Putinist! 

[Karl Henning]

Ginastera (3)

These were completely off my radar until I watched Barbara Nissman's masterclass DVD. Great stuff!

[Karl Henning]

Liszt:

Sonata in B Minor
Dante sonata

Yes!

[Florestan]

I guess the point of the thread is that the piano sonata is so intimately tied in with austro-germanic piano music that it doesn't make sense to discuss it excluding those composers.

Well, you're wrong. There's more to music of whatever genre than the Austro-Germanic variety. 

Heck, it has just right now crossed my mind: what about a top ten ballet music? I am sure there will be no Austro-German composer in it... 

[Maestro267]

Enescu (2) (A pity that his 2nd Sonata is lost)[/b]

Think we need VAR to make a call on this one. I say cheating!

[Florestan]

Liszt:

Sonata in B Minor
Dante sonata
3 Petrarca sonatas

I'm not sure Liszt qualifies as non-Austro-German proper. His parents were both native German-speaking folks. His birthplace is in Austria. He never spoke Hungarian.

[Symphonic Addict]

These were completely off my radar until I watched Barbara Nissman's masterclass DVD. Great stuff!

I know the first two sonatas via the CPO recording featuring Michael Korstick. The 3rd Sonata is on the ASV label IIRC, and that's what I know about them.

[Symphonic Addict]

Think we need VAR to make a call on this one. I say cheating!

Why? The sonatas 1 and 3 exist and they can qualify as a cycle despite the absence of the 2nd.

[Florestan]

Why? The sonatas 1 and 3 exist and they can qualify as a cycle despite the absence of the 2nd.

The VAR decided: at least two, therefore Enescu is a legit entry.

[Symphonic Addict]

The VAR decided: at least two, therefore Enescu is a legit entry.

And it has nothing to do with the VAR sharing the nationality of the composer in question. 

[Florestan]

And it has nothing to do with the VAR sharing the nationality of the composer in question. 

Of course not, given that Enescu is not even in my top ten composers.

The rules are clear and specified as such in the OP: at least two piano sonatas.

[Roasted Swan]

Well, I never heard the Bax sonatas. Have you ever heard the Albeniz ones?  

Curses - you have found me out!!!

However there is this Gramophone review to consider.........

"The considerable confusion that surrounds his output (the same work with different titles, different works with the same name) also extends to his sonatas, of which he claimed at various times to have written seven, eight or 12. In fact only single movements of Nos. 1 and 7 seem to have been written, and Nos. 2 and 6 are non-existent: the only three complete sonatas are those recorded here.

Stylistically they can be categorized as graceful highly pianistic salon music with roots in such romantic composers as Weber (the energetically agile finale of No. 3), Chopin and Schumann (the busy-textured first movement of No. 5, whose leggiero finale however hints at an acquaintance with Scarlatti). Serious sonata structure is often subjugated to pretty pianistic frills, and internal proportions are not well considered—the initial Allegro of No. 5 is far too long, its finale far too short—but on a less exalted level all this music is agreeable enough. The same goes for L'automne, an extended waltz of easy charm (the first section in G minor, is the most striking) of which Albeniz thought well enough to orchestrate it later. Albert Guiovart plays everything with fluency, spirit and sensitive tonal gradations: occasionally (as in the left-hand runs in L'automne) he might have been more sparing of the pedal in the acoustics of the church in which he was recorded; but in general he presents to best effect these pleasant, if not very distinctive, works.'

The case for the prosecution rests m'lud........

[Florestan]

Curses - you have found me out!!!

However there is this Gramophone review to consider.........

[..]

The case for the prosecution rests m'lud........

Your honour, I demand that the prosecution answer yes or no this simple question: have they listened to any Albeniz piano sonata?

[Jo498]

I must split hairs here since the thread is about piano sonatas, and Scarlatti did not compose for the piano.  The same applies to Soler, who is at least as good as Scarlatti.  The single movement critique is a solid one.

I am not sure if Soler might not have already written for fortepiano and he has in fact some multi movement sonatas in a addition to the more Scarlattian ones. So does Blasco da Nebra and of course Clementi who is also a serious contender, unless one counts him as too close to Viennese classicism despite his natonality.

[Florestan]

Clemenți is legit. So is Blasco de Nebra. So is Galuppi, for that matter.

[DavidW]

The rules are clear and specified as such in the OP: at least two piano sonatas.

No two is not a cycle. It is not even a pattern! I'm abusing my moderator status and overruling you even if it is your thread!  

[Florestan]

No two is not a cycle. It is not even a pattern! I'm abusing my moderator status and overruling you even if it is your thread!  

I yield to brute force —— yet I do protest most vigorously! 

[Karl Henning]

I yield to brute force —— yet I do protest most vigorously! 

Be fair: would two songs be a song cycle?

[Florestan]

Be fair: would two songs be a song cycle?

Absolutely not. But then again, did Beethoven conceived his series of piano sonatas as a cycle proper?

Cycle is just a name, which might or not have any significance.