He left Russia in 1918 and spent time in the U.S. and Paris throughout the next decade. He visited Russia in 1927 and 1929, but came back to Europe to live until 1932 when he returned to Russia. He visited the U.S. for the last time in 1938. He died on the same day Stalin died in 1953. Piano style includes combination of percussive elements with lyricism.
Music is often ironical and somewhat bordering on the grotesque.
He was a virtuoso pianist and his nine piano sonatas are the most important set of sonatas in the twentieth century. Back in Russia Melodies are occasionally modal, but usually lyrical, consisting of four-bar phrases. They are often predominantly diatonic, with some chromaticism and large leaps. While he uses a great degree of dissonance in some of his music, his harmonic language remains tonal, although he often shifts suddenly to distant tonalities. Of course, I have used dissonance in my time, but there has been too much dissonance. . . .