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Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Cello Sonata in G minor, Op. 19, a sonata for cello and piano, was composed in 1901 and published a year later. As typical of sonatas in the Romantic period, it has four movements. Rachmaninoff disliked calling it a cello sonata because he thought the two instruments were equal. Because of this, it is often referred to as Sonata in G Minor for Cello and Piano. Most of the themes are introduced by the cello, while they are embellished and expanded in the piano’s part. He dedicated it to Anatoliy Brandukov, who gave the first performance. It is hailed as one of the most important cello sonatas of the 20th century.

Piano Sonata No. 2, Op. 36, is a piano sonata in B-flat minor composed by Sergei Rachmaninoff in 1913. It was revised 1931, with the note, “The new version, revised and reduced by author.” It has three movements:
1. Allegro agitato
2. Non allegro
3. Allegro molto
A typical performance lasts approximately 25 minutes.

Piano Sonata No. 1, Op. 28, is a piano sonata in D minor by Sergei Rachmaninoff, completed in 1908. It is the first of three “Dresden pieces”, along with Symphony No. 2 and part of an opera, which were composed in the quiet city of Dresden, Germany. It was originally themed after Goethe’s tragic play, Faust, and although Rachmaninoff abandoned the idea soon after beginning composition, traces of this influence can still be found. After numerous revisions and susbstantial cuts made at the advice of his colleagues, he completed it on April 11, 1908. Konstantin Igumnov gave the premiere in Moscow on October 17, 1908. It received a lukewarm response there, and remains one of the more underperformed of Rachmaninoff’s works.

Frédéric Chopin composed his Piano Sonata No. 3 in B minor, Op. 58 in 1844 and dedicated it to Countess Emilie de Perthuis. His last sonata for piano solo, it has been suggested that this was his attempt to address the criticisms of his earlier sonata Op. 35.

Frédéric Chopin composed his Piano Sonata No. 2 in B-flat minor, Op. 35 (”Funeral March”) mainly in 1839 at Nohant near Chateauroux in France, although the funeral march third movement had been composed as early as 1837.

The Sonata No. 1 in C minor, Op. 4 by Frédéric Chopin was written by the composer in 1828. It was written during Chopin’s time as a student with Józef Elsner, to whom the sonata is dedicated. (Probably begun around July 1828, according to the Chopin chronicle site.)