Scriabin, Alexander (1872-1915)

[RichardB]

My bank balance is now looking decidedly depleted, but I managed to book the ticket, train tickets and hostel for this. (Thank goodness I didn't have to pay the hostel fee in full right away). I am really looking forward to it!

I would certainly be joining you at this concert if I were in the country. Looking forward to hearing about it!

[Mandryka]

Agreed 100%. Thanks for bringing our attention to the Finnissy, which I have playing now.

Sexiest when played by Chitose Okashiro. Just astonishing performances from her IMO.

[Joseph K]

Sexiest when played by Chitose Okashiro. Just astonishing performances from her IMO.

She appears to have only recorded the fifth?

Having finished my listening this week of two different recordings of the St Matthew Passion not long ago, I have now decided that over the next eight days (starting today) I will listen to all of my Scriabin sonata cycles, which are, in order of purchase:

Roberto Szidon
Marc-André Hamelin
Vincenzo Maltempo
Maria Lettberg

Score in hand, of course. The Szidon is actually three disks but that's because a few other pieces are included.

[Mandryka]

Yes as far as I know she’s only recorded the 5th sonata. By the way, for the sonatas, I’ve started to enjoy Austbø. There’s a lightness, delicacy about what he does. I haven’t heard any of the ones in your list.

[Bryn]

Here's some Scriabin that will be well worth hearing:

https://jdp.st-hildas.ox.ac.uk/event/scriabin-complete-piano-sonatas-jonathan-powell?fbclid=IwAR3nwt3yaSpIZ6r76JwyixOne5AtGs8rakh74zIhkwHLTC0nm3Z6B_UgxFk

Other dares in Bristol and Egham (Royal Holloway):

https://www.stgeorgesbristol.co.uk/whats-on/jonathan-powell-scriabin-piano-sonatas/

and

https://www.royalholloway.ac.uk/rese...-powell-piano/

Here's an item from the time of a previous Jonathan Powell Scriabin sonatas survey: https://jonathanpowellpianist.com/20...iabin-sonatas/

[Mandryka]

Here's an item from the time of a previous Jonathan Powell Scriabin sonatas survey: https://jonathanpowellpianist.com/20...iabin-sonatas/

I'm quite tempted to go to the concert on Nov 12.

[Joseph K]

I haven’t heard any of the ones in your list.

I've just finished listening to the Szidon no. 10 (I'm behind schedule, I know). I know it's often the case that if you love some music based on a particular performance of it, you tend to feel attached to that recording to the exclusion of others, perhaps; but I really think Szidon has the measure of these, certainly in the last five, which is where it's at so to speak with Scriabin, for me. I really like the recorded sound of his piano, too - quite spacious and sparkling. And his performances just ooze gorgeousness and visionary ecstasy etc. Suffice to say, his recordings are my benchmark. Next up is Marc-André Hamelin, whose recordings I am not too familiar with owing to my initial displeasure with some of his tempos - we'll have to see...

[Mandryka]

I've just finished listening to the Szidon no. 10 (I'm behind schedule, I know). I know it's often the case that if you love some music based on a particular performance of it, you tend to feel attached to that recording to the exclusion of others, perhaps; but I really think Szidon has the measure of these, certainly in the last five, which is where it's at so to speak with Scriabin, for me. I really like the recorded sound of his piano, too - quite spacious and sparkling. And his performances just ooze gorgeousness and visionary ecstasy etc. Suffice to say, his recordings are my benchmark. Next up is Marc-André Hamelin, whose recordings I am not too familiar with owing to my initial displeasure with some of his tempos - we'll have to see...

The Szidon sonata 10 is very atmospheric, almost impressionist à la Debussy at times. I enjoyed it very much. What I missed is those mystical trembling quivering fluttering vibrations - I didn’t get the shivers that I get with Horowitz.

[Joseph K]

I just listened to the Horowitz. I liked his tempos - slower often than Szidon, and his rhythmic articulation is at times swung and deliberate. He brings out some of the polyphonic textures more than other performers. And yes, in the climax of the piece (around four sixths of the way through) he is radiant and powerful, not rushing, bringing out all the notes. I prefer the recorded sound of the Szidon, however.

[Joseph K]

Just listened to Hamelin no. 1 - 3. Compared to Szidon, he has a cleaner, more lucid sound and it suits these earlier sonatas quite well. I probably never even bothered listening to these performances before (the earlier sonatas) because like I said, I prefer the later sonatas - we shall see tomorrow whether Hamelin adds anything good or interesting to what these awesome pieces can be/do, how we can conceive of them.

[RichardB]

Like you I find myself always coming back to Szidon's recordings of these pieces. Horowitz's no.10 is amazingly virtuosic but it doesn't, to my mind, go as far into what a revolutionary and profound composer Scriabin was. (It's no coincidence that the first generation of Soviet composers, before the cultural destruction of the Stalin era, took Scriabin as their point of departure.) I remember thinking a similar thing about Hamelin's recordings of the later sonatas. Maltempo and Lettberg are brilliant too of course. I was for a long time very keen on a double LP of the last five sonatas and various other shorter late pieces played by the Uzbek-French pianist Mikhail Rudy, originally a recommendation back in the 1980s by my colleague and Scriabin enthusiast Chris Dench, but only opp 65 -74 have been rereleased on CD (as Les oeuvres ultimes, on the Calliope label). Maybe that's my favourite 10th Sonata in the end.

edit: listening again just now, it also contains an earth-shaking Vers la flamme.

[Joseph K]

I think I may have found the Rudy record, on youtube - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZpZD...DA1e8s&index=4

I currently have no. 8 on (no. 8 being my favourite Scriabin sonata, if I really had to choose). He's taking the opening at a slower than I'm used to tempo, which I like - relishing in those radiant, psychedelic harmonies.

Regarding the first generation of Soviet composers - I did once check out some Roslavets, though unfortunately it sounded like Scriabin devoid of the all the poetic/mystical/voluptuous etc. expressive elements. Any pieces of his or other composers that I should check out?

[Pulcinella]

Joseph: I wonder if you picked up a copy of the February 2022 BBC MM CD, with Garrick Ohlsson playing Sonatas 3, 8, 9, and 10 (Wigmore Hall, 2015), and Alexander Gadjiev playing some other pieces (Maida Vale, 2019), and if so what you thought of it.

https://www.classical-music.com/magazine/issues/february-2022/

[Joseph K]

I didn't, I'm afraid, unfortunately for me.

[Pulcinella]

I didn't, I'm afraid, unfortunately for me.

It'll crop up s/h somewhere soon, no doubt.
A quick Amazon search didn't reveal it though (but Bryn is good at hunting stuff down so perhaps he'll find it for you); I'm not sure if there are back copies of single issues available, but it might be worth a phone call to find out.