Bax's massive first sonata was originally written during his stay in the Ukraine in 1910 and reflects some of the emotional turmoil his youthful love affairs had created in him at that time. The opening passage of the work certainly portrays uncertainty, but there is also a sense of wonder at the majesty and scope of the Russian landscape, and the finale contains definite echoes of the bells and crowds of St. Petersburg during the Easter Festival—a city he had just visited.

Revised in 1921 and first played by his companion Harriet Cohen, the first sonata is conceived in a single movement with a huge and brilliant coda, described as some of the best English piano music ever written. Like all the piano sonatas, it is technically difficult (especially for pianists with small hands like Cohen) and contains ideas of great depth and intensity. This they have in common with the sonatas of Edward MacDowell (also influenced by Liszt), to which they have a striking similarity. Even in this first sonata, however, there are signs of the change in direction which would start with the First Symphony, to which this work contributes several motifs.

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