This is the second CD in Wergo's Edition Rodion Shchedrin devoted to the composer as pianist. Rodion Shchedrin plays his own piano music, chiefly early works, in recordings first made by Melodiya, with the later Notebook for the Youth of 1981 as the exception.

Shchedrin was born in Moscow in 1932 and graduated from the Moscow Conservatory in 1955 with degrees in composition and piano. A virtuoso pianist, he often performed his own works, among them six piano concertos, sonatas and the 24 Preludes and Fugues. Schott dates these recordings to 1964 and 1983. They were made in the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory, which the composer called the place with the best acoustics in Moscow, and at night, when the team had the peace and quiet needed for quiet, transparent music. Shchedrin reflects on the period: "Yes, we were children of our time and of our country", adding that time always leaves its mark.

The Piano Sonata, op. 25, is in three movements, an Allegro, a set of Variazioni polifonici and a closing Rondo-Toccata. The Notebook for the Youth, op. 59, has fifteen pieces and, despite its title, is meant for advanced concert pianists as well as young players. Its titles point to Russian sources and to musical games: Znamenny Chant, Russian Peal, Chant of Peter the Great, Village Weeper, Play Rossini's Opera, Twelve Notes. The Piano Pieces, op. 20, include three pieces from his ballet The Humpbacked Horse, a Humoresque, Imitating Albéniz and two polyphonic pieces, an invention and a basso ostinato.

Schott opens its presentation with a line by the poet Andrey Voznesensky, "I will not disown any of my former lines", a stance Shchedrin applies to his early music. The companion double CD (WER 6689 2) holds his polyphonic cycles. Next to them, these works show the lighter and more virtuoso side of his writing for the instrument, with old Russian chant, bell sounds and stylistic play set beside the strict counterpoint of the sonata's middle movement.

CD, Wergo WER 6691 2, released in 2007 in the Edition Rodion Shchedrin. Total running time 60'37".