The work was Grieg's only piano sonata and it was dedicated to the Danish composer Niels Gade.
The sonata has four movements with the following tempo markings: A typical performance lasts around 20 minutes.
In the first movement Grieg used a technique probably most famously used by Bach and Shostakovich: his own name, more precisely his initials E-H-G (H being the German name for note B), begins the melody in the first two bars, which is reiterated in octaves and even echoed by the left hand in bars 14 and 15.
The first complete recording was that made on 20 April 1921 by the Australian pianist Una Bourne (1882–1974).
[3][4] Later pianists to record the Sonata in E minor include Glenn Gould, Alicia de Larrocha and Eva Knardahl.