Sonata for piano No. 2 in B Minor op.4 / Deux Nocturnes op.15 / Sonata for piano No. 5 in D Minor op.12

The piece's hammering rhythms cast the composer as the "machine music" man, the embodiment of Russian Constructivism. This characterization worked against Mosolov in his own, troubled, lifetime and has continued to obscure the breadth of his music.

In fact, Mosolov's compositional output was prolific and diverse as evident in his early works produced during the 1920's which included orchestral works, a symphony, two operas, numerous pieces of chamber music and the Sonatas and Noctures for Piano on this recording. In different ways, these pieces were attempts to bring the industrial soundscape into the concert hall and were received with much controversy. By the 1930's Mosolov was denounced as decadent and counter-revolutionary and he was forced to modify and simplify his musical language. Even after his death in 1973, official condemnation of his early work was not tempered, and as late as 1985 the Soviet Composers Union refused to grant permission for performances of his piano concerto in East Germany.