Balakirev’s Sonata in B flat minor, Op 5 (1905) is the summit of his ambition to create a work that expresses the entire history of Russia. This highly original and most moving of all Russian Sonatas encapsulates all three Sonatas, having begun life as the Grande Sonate, Op 3 (1855), here recorded for the first time, subsequently becoming the First Sonata (1856). This recording of the Sonata, Op 5 is the first to have been made from the original manuscript, without the mistakes to be found in the two published scores.