Alexander Scriabin
Impromptus
About Alexander Scriabin's Impromptus
Scriabin composed several sets of Impromptus in the 1890s, which belong to his most rarely performed pieces. The young Scriabin used to sleep with Chopin’s music under his pillow – the influence is obvious in the earliest piece here, the Impromptu à la Mazur Op. 2 No. 3: a faithful Chopin pastiche and a pretty straight-forward mazurka rather than an Impromptu. The mature impromptus from Opus 7 onwards retain the link to Chopin, but also reveal Scriabin’s mould-breaking compositional freedom and his idiosyncratic pianism.
Some of these (Op. 12 No. 2, Op. 14 No. 2) could easily have been named Nocturnes instead of Impromptus. A certain salon-like quality makes its mark, but the occasional tragic undertones, flashes of fire, and ecstatic rhythms give prophetic hints of late Scriabin.
Preview | Title | Key | Year | Level |
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Impromptu à la Mazur Op. 2 No. 3 | C Major | 1889 | 6 |
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Impromptu à la Mazur Op. 7 No. 1 | G-sharp Minor | 1892 | 7 |
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Impromptu à la Mazur Op. 7 No. 2 | F-sharp Major | 1892 | 8+ |
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Impromptu Op. 10 No. 1 | F-sharp Minor | 1894 | 8+ |
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Impromptu Op. 10 No. 2 | A-flat Major | 1894 | 8 |
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Impromptu Op. 12 No. 1 | F-sharp Major | 1895 | 8+ |
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Impromptu Op. 12 No. 2 | B-flat Minor | 1895 | 8+ |
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Impromptu Op. 14 No. 1 | B Major | 1895 | 8 |
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Impromptu Op. 14 No. 2 | F-sharp Minor | 1895 | 8 |