The cycle of nine piano sonatas emerged sporadically and unevenly over the course of Prokofiev’s composing career. The Fifth Piano Sonata reflects his early fascination with the cultural whirlwind of Paris in the early 1920s, and shows the influence of Stravinsky and Les Six. The Sixth Piano Sonata, completed in 1940, was the first of a trilogy of so-called “war” sonatas, and is a particularly aggressive example of Prokofiev’s mature style. In contrast, the Ninth Piano Sonata is a work which the pianist Sviatoslav Richter described as “radiant, simple and even intimate”.