Scriabin, Alexander (1872-1915)

[Serial_Apologist]

Returning to Mikhail Rudy's recording of the late works again reminded me that Scriabin himself never played the study in major ninths op.65/1 because his hands were too small.

Well I never.............

[Joseph K]

I just listened to sonatas 1 & 2 played by Maltempo (I intended to listen to more but despite the quality, didn't). I was thinking - since as I've already said, it's the late ones where it's at for me - that the first ones would be unremarkable (as in, not worthy of comment) even if well-played, but I was proven wrong by how very beautiful Maltempo played the first movement of no. 2 - or rather, as I prefer to think of it, revealed no. 2's inherent beauty more than other performances I've heretofore listened to...

[Mandryka]

And I’ve been listening to Feinberg play some mazurkas

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=am72tucOpNk

[Joseph K]

Just finished listening to Maltempo playing sonatas 5, 6 and 7. It felt a bit abrupt switching off there, as though he was playing them like movements of some huge single work. No complaints here - no. 6 was especially erotic. And no. 7 was generally awash with beauty and delight - and as hard as it is to disentangle how Szidon performs the piece with how I conceive of it, Maltempo did a good job...

[Mandryka]

The opening bars of 5 are extraordinary. I haven’t heard Maltempo but I think Dmitri Alexeev is really memorable in those first few seconds of music.

[Joseph K]

Maltempo 8, 9 and 10 - just finished listening to these.
His no. 8 is among the best, very much gets the right tempos (slow enough when necessary - and it is necessary) with supple rhythms and subtle dynamic contrasts. However, there were a few places in his no. 9 that could have been more effective, e.g. where it states avec une langueur naissante in the score, which ought to sound more crystalline and voluptuous but he takes it too quickly. And no. 9 made me appreciate the Szidon by way of comparison, since the dynamic contrasts in his recordings of these works (mainly no. 7 & 9) really add a lot in expressive import i.e. their intensity. But I couldn't fault Maltempo's no. 10, worthy IMO to be placed alongside Szidon or Rudy.

[Mandryka]

Listening to Boris Berman play Scriabin sonatas.

I read somewhere that there’s a review in the American Record Guide and Fanfare which comments that Berman’s style is very much consistent with how people described Scriabin’s own playing. This was the comment I found

When the Boris Berman set came out on Music&Arts several years ago, it
was reviewed in both Fanfare and American Record Guide. Comparison of the
reviews was *quite* interesting: both critics heard the same
characteristics, but one panned the recordings and one praised them.
The critic who praised the Berman recordings related the sound and manner
to the descriptions of Scriabin's own playing: the phrase "like kittens
mewling" sticks in my mind. I felt that this was a more informed view
than that of the other critic who evidently did not have the same
background knowledge.

Whether it is desirable for a modern performance to resemble Scriabin's
own, or not, is an open question, but I do not regret having bought the
Berman set as a result of the favorable review.

--

If anyone has access I’d be really interested to know more about these descriptions of Scriabin’s style

[ahinton]

as though he was playing them like movements of some huge single work

Interesting that you mention this. Jonathan Powell has for several years had a programme in his repertoire that comprises all ten numbered Scriabin sonatas in chronological order of composition with five in each half; he's play8ing it several times this yar because of the Scriabin 150th. I've only heard him do this once but I was struck by how the programme as a whole functions on two levels, the one being each sonata in its own right but the other the impression of a vast 2+-hour work in ten sections that traces Scriabin's development as a pianist/composer. A few other pianists play programmes of all the Scriabin sonatas, most notably Peter Donohoe, but Jonathan Powell seems to be the only one to present them in this way.

[Bryn]

Interesting that you mention this. Jonathan Powell has for several years had a programme in his repertoire that comprises all ten numbered Scriabin sonatas in chronological order of composition with five in each half; he's play8ing it several times this yar because of the Scriabin 150th. I've only heard him do this once but I was struck by how the programme as a whole functions on two levels, the one being each sonata in its own right but the other the impression of a vast 2+-hour work in ten sections that traces Scriabin's development as a pianist/composer. A few other pianists play programmes of all the Scriabin sonatas, most notably Peter Donohoe, but Jonathan Powell seems to be the only one to present them in this way.

Unfortunately, it looks like Jonathan will only be playing a selection at Royal Holloway the only concert in the series that I can get to.

[Joseph K]

Interesting that you mention this. Jonathan Powell has for several years had a programme in his repertoire that comprises all ten numbered Scriabin sonatas in chronological order of composition with five in each half; he's play8ing it several times this yar because of the Scriabin 150th. I've only heard him do this once but I was struck by how the programme as a whole functions on two levels, the one being each sonata in its own right but the other the impression of a vast 2+-hour work in ten sections that traces Scriabin's development as a pianist/composer. A few other pianists play programmes of all the Scriabin sonatas, most notably Peter Donohoe, but Jonathan Powell seems to be the only one to present them in this way.

I know. I'm very much looking forward to Jonathan's Oxford gig, which I'll be attending.

[ahinton]

I know. I'm very much looking forward to Jonathan's Oxford gig, which I'll be attending.

I'm very sorry that I cannot get to this...

[Joseph K]

Listening to Horowitz no. 9 as brought to my attention by Mandryka -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9PA9NlSGhI

But I'm afraid it's too fast for me, and choppy - it sounds very much like bits have been cut out! Not to my taste at all, sorry.

[Mandryka]

Listening to Horowitz no. 9 as brought to my attention by Mandryka -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9PA9NlSGhI

But I'm afraid it's too fast for me, and choppy - it sounds very much like bits have been cut out! Not to my taste at all, sorry.

I find it really disturbing, full of dread. I want to say -- Horowitz makes it sound like evil.

Here's Ugorski with the same sonata

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1HA70jcC-oLmevNa0EFVDrFtVf_1YwgIK/view?usp=share_link

[Joseph K]

Finally getting round to listening to some of the BBCMM recording of various Scriabin piano sonatas by Ohlsson, starting with my favourite, no. 8. I am very much enjoying it - the opening was slow - almost too slow! and for me to say that, well, it's something - with some interesting pauses, and at 15 minutes, this must be the longest recording of this piece I've seen; but that's fine, he's in no hurry, and nor should he be, these radiant psychedelic harmonies need room to breathe. Awesome music!

Reflecting on some of the very informative talk by Marina Frolova-Walker before the gig last night, it occurred to me that I don't perceive the supposed 'evil' in Scriabin. Perhaps that's why I didn't like the Horowitz. But when the composer himself describes his music in such terms, well - I don't know. I'd say one person's satanic/evil or whatever is another's ecstatic and erotic. I like to think of it as intoxicating, and like intoxication the positive and negative impulse to get high on something can and does coexist in many people concurrently; I like to think of these sonatas as dissolving easily perceptible binary dualisms as dark/light, good and evil or masculine and feminine, and the sense of single-mindedness of the harmony would do just that, I think. Perhaps it dissolves the binary dualism of being a binary dualism and not being a binary dualism, or something?! I guess since these are sonatas they do fulfil certain criteria like the distinction between different themes which are then combined and developed, but I'd say they are more ambiguous in Scriabin than in most other composers, and that is one of the aspects of their potent expressive affect and all-round genius.

[Joseph K]

Wow! The Ohlsson no. 9 & 10 are also superb.