Chopin's First Sonata is certainly the one disappointment of his four (in which I include the Cello Sonata); to me, one of its greatest disappointments is in that it seems not merely immature (after all, Chopin hardly took long to reach what could reasonably be thought of as "maturity", as is proved to the ultimate degree by the Op. 10 Études written during his 'teens, of all things!) but a lesser work in many respects that most of what he wrote immediately before and after it. I cannot be certain as to why this is, but I suspect that the idea of writing a sonata rather threw him at the time (and yet even this problem didn't seem to exert too many adverse effects on his early piano trio). I wouldn't go so far as to say that it's not worth playing, but, its finale excepted up to a point, the relationship between the necessary work and the likely rewards is arguably less satisfyingly worthwhile than anywhere else in Chopin's output.
Since Strauss has been mentioned in this thread, I would say that he was a fine pianist, though by no means a big virtuoso in the Chopin/Liszt/Alkan/Busoni tradition; the piano parts of his songs are mostly quite rewarding to play (albeit neither as much so nor as challenging as those of Marx, Medtner or Rakhmaninov) and his handful of works for piano and orchestra, whilst not especially great piano writing or even, for that matter, especially great Strauss, are still worth of consideration, particularly as the piano seems unfortunately to have become an instrument with which few ever even think to assosicate Strauss in their minds. Strauss wrote little of any consequence for piano solo and there are a few early chamber works with piano which at leasgt display some sense of the instrument in a chamber music context; the early piano quartet has just been recorded and the cello sonata and violin sonata still feature from time to time in recital programmes.
Best,
Alistair
Topic: chopin sonata no.1