Good Ibeniz, Scriabin, and Satie Recordings

[xerxais]

I have yet to be fully exposed to the music of these composers, recording reccomendations?

[rob47]

check out these recordings of scriabin sonatas.

arcady volodos (7th sonata)
igor zhukov (7th sonata)
koji attwood (7th sonata)
håkon austbø (8th sonata)

[slow_concert_pianist]

I have the 7th by Volodos. Not impressed.

Horowitz and Ashkenazy are the 2 best Scriabin performers I have heard to date, but I will check out your offerings

[georgecziffra]

I think Roberto Szidon's recording of Scriabin's 7th is the best.  Sofronitsky is my favorite for some of the late sonatas (8-10), Richter is probably the best for the 2nd and 5th. Not sure about the others.

[john11inc]

I guess we're just talking about the Sonata No. 7.  In which case I nominate Ogdon and Laredo.

I'd say:

1/2/3- Who gives a sh*t?
4- Laredo, L. Berman
5- Hamelin, S. Feinberg
6- Glemser, Richter
7- Laredo, Ogdon
8- All recordings of this piece are bad
9- Laredo (No contest)
10- Sofronitsky (No contest)

Satie it won't matter; it will sound identical no matter who the pianist is.  I don't know "Ibeniz".  Do you mean Albeniz?  In which case, Alicia de Larrocha is usually considered the best.

[weissenberg2]

For the Scriabin sonatas:

1: I don't know
2. Richter
3. Gould and Ashkenazy
4. Berman & Ashkenazy
5. Gould, Feinberg, Horowitz
6. Richter
7. Ashkenazy
8. Sofronitsky
9. Horowitz
10. Sofronitsky

[xerxais]

Dammit.... yes I mean Albeniz. Isaac Albeniz. I got it confused with the guitar.. such a dumbass I am...

[vviola]

For the Scriabin sonatas:

1: I don't know
2. Richter
3. Gould and Ashkenazy
4. Berman & Ashkenazy
5. Gould, Feinberg, Horowitz
6. Richter
7. Ashkenazy
8. Sofronitsky
9. Horowitz
10. Sofronitsky

All of with this list. Except I would replace four with the Laredo recording, at least the "second" movement. Both Horowitz recordings of nine are fantastic. As for the first—The only one I liked was Hamelin's, but even that was lacking. I would also add Richter's performance of the fifth sonata.

[retrouvailles]

I think for the Scriabin sonatas, Hamelin and Glemser's sets (the latter is not complete) are the best you can do if you don't want to get a million different recordings. Many of the aforementioned are good also, but these two are my personal preferences. If you are looking at the piece for purposes of acquaintance, I would stay far away from the likes of Horowitz, for he sacrifices a substantial amount of accuracy to fulfill his musical wishes, as controversial as they are (I frankly don't like his Scriabin at all, and I know many of you are going to go up in arms against me for that). I won't even mention the problems with the sound quality of some of the older recordings because that doesn't bother everyone (it bothers me, for I am a sound quality freak in some cases). Oh, and for the record, I happen to like Hamelin's 8th sonata quite a bit, so yes, there is at least one good recording of it. Many of his others are not perfect, though, which is to be expected from any complete set.

For Albéniz, the de Larrocha, Hamelin, and Orozco recordings of Iberia (with some other works included) are great, and they are pretty much all you need to be exposed to his music. Naxos is in process of recording all of his complete piano music, but from what I have heard, this is one case where the stuff that has been recorded the most is the best of what he has written, and the stuff that hasn't been recorded much isn't really worth hearing as much. All that said, the Iberia suite and Navarra are his two best works, in my opinion, and have been recorded relatively generously.

Well, for Satie, I really don't care a whole lot about this guy, but I would suggest getting the Reinbert de Leeuw set, and maybe the Thibaudet set if you really want to get further into him. He is one 20th century composer I really don't see much value in, quite frankly, but you might think otherwise.

[john11inc]

I think for the Scriabin sonatas, Hamelin and Glemser's sets (the latter is not complete) are the best you can do if you don't want to get a million different recordings.  If you are looking at the piece for purposes of acquaintance, I would stay far away from the likes of Horowitz, for he sacrifices a substantial amount of accuracy to fulfill his musical wishes, as controversial as they are.


Naxos is in process of recording all of his complete piano music, but from what I have heard, this is one case where the stuff that has been recorded the most is the best of what he has written, and the stuff that hasn't been recorded much isn't really worth hearing as much.

I'd agree with all that, with two addendums.  Ruth Laredo's Scriabin set is also quite incredible (even though I know retrouvailles actually dislikes that one); the technique isn't always immaculate (although, ironically, nobody has raped Vers la Flamme as awesomely as she has), but if you really want to get an idea of what Scriabin was about she might be the best, just because her interpretations are really lush and bring out every detail and little, melodic fragment that get lost under most hands.

Also, a random Albeniz piece that's pretty wikid but not especially well-known:

[slow_concert_pianist]

For the Scriabin sonatas:

1: I don't know
2. Richter
3. Gould and Ashkenazy
4. Berman & Ashkenazy
5. Gould, Feinberg, Horowitz
6. Richter
7. Ashkenazy
8. Sofronitsky
9. Horowitz
10. Sofronitsky

Good choice, but I would add Ashkenazy to 1., change 2. to Pogolerich, 5. I would add Neuhaus and for 10. I would add Pletnev. Although Sofronitsky is a delightful Scriabin interpretor. I have a recording of the preludes by Frank McIntosh which are very "safe", so I would not mind hearing his interpretations of the sonatas (if he recorded them).

Regards Albeniz (& specifically Iberia), I like Orozco for his "Spanish-ness", dislike Alicia De Larrocha and can find none who can match the great Uchida. I don't like Satie and can't remeber who plays some of his piano works on a CD I have somewhere. That said, the performer is exceptional so I will try and namedrop when I locate the CD.