Blake Sonata

The second volume of piano music by Dmitri N. Smirnov (pen names Dmitri N. Smirnov and D. Smirnov-Sadovsky), a Russian and British composer. He was born in 1948. He studied at the Moscow Conservatory 1967-1972 under Nikolai Sidelnikov, Yuri Kholopov and Edison Denisov. He also studied privately with Philip Herschkowitz, a pupil of both Berg and Webern. In 1979 Smirnov was blacklisted as one of the Khrennikov's Seven at the "6th Congress of the Union of Soviet Composers" for unapproved participation in some festivals of Soviet music in the West. He was one of the founders of Russia's new ACM (Association for Contemporary Music), established in Moscow in 1990. Since 1991 he has been resident of England. The volume include his 6th Piano Sonata op. 157 (2008) entitled "Blake Sonata" and inspired by work of the great English poet and artist William Blake (1757-1827). The piece is dedicated to the daughter of the composer, a pianist Alissa Firsova, who premiered the Sonata and recorded it on CD "Russian Émigrés", Vivat 109.