Scriabin 1st Sonata

[nanabush]

I had my last lesson on tuesday, until mid january, and my teacher wanted me to try something new.  She gave me a book w/ all of Scriabin's sonatas in it, but she kept pressing the 1st on me.  I listened to an amazon recording, goin up until the third page, and I played up until there, but then it becomes too much and I have no idea how it should sound... If anyone's played this, could you give me any tips or heads up on anything in this piece, because I honestly don't know a thing about it, other than how the starting sounds...

[jakev2.0]

My advice to you: don't play it. 

[jre58591]

seconded. this piece is hard as hell. it has a lot of chords, arps, and that presto movement can get pretty hairy. if you want an "easy" scriabin sonata, try the 9th.

[nanabush]

haha I forgot to mention, I was just looking into the first movement.  I looked at the presto and decided not to go there just yet... but the first part, from what I've played up to (which sadly isn't too much) the only part that took me a bit of time to get up to speed was those weird left hand arpeggios... is the piece difficult due to the third mvmt, or does the first movement still get tougher

[hodi]

haha I forgot to mention, I was just looking into the first movement.  I looked at the presto and decided not to go there just yet... but the first part, from what I've played up to (which sadly isn't too much) the only part that took me a bit of time to get up to speed was those weird left hand arpeggios... is the piece difficult due to the third mvmt, or does the first movement still get tougher

scriabin always has difficult left hand passages
i'm sure he was lefty

[jakev2.0]

Also, I think that the hard work in the piece is really not worth it - to me the piece sounds like a strange fusion of Wagner/Liszt. The 2nd Sonata is a quantum leap in terms of style and invention.

[opus10no2]

Contrary to Jake, I love this sonata, however it takes real imagination and dynamic control to make the final funeral march work.

3rd movement is some of the most exciting stuff he ever wrote, best executed by Uematsu.

[nanabush]

K but what other common rep stuff would the first movement compare with..

[jre58591]

K but what other common rep stuff would the first movement compare with..

well, i think one can safely say that it compares to many works by rachmaninoff.