Scriabin

[nickc]

Any Scriabin fans out there? Dude was a nutbar but man... he had a lot to tell us. I'd love to hear what compositions of his you guys enjoy.

Cheers

[mjames]

Chopin considered Alkan to be successor of his own piano method, but it is Scriabin who truly succeeded Chopin. I enjoy everything from op. 1 to op. 74.

[medtnaculus]

Probably my favourite composer. His sonatas are among some of the best out there.

5th sonata is probably my favourite.

[mjames]

Probably my favourite composer. His sonatas are among some of the best out there.

5th sonata is probably my favourite.

Simply a culmination of extraordinary genius. My favorite recording:

[coda_colossale]

One of my musical idols for sure.
Yep, the 5th is indeed a gem. Seems very challenging and tiring to play though. I quite enjoy Sudbin's recording.
The late sonatas are a world on their own, though. I found 9th to be technically the simplest among those, so I'm hoping to learn it.

[ahinton]

The ten numbered sonatas in some ways chart the journey of Scriabin's development as a composer and in no instance has this fact been so evident to me as much as when I heard a mamber here perform all of them in chronological order as a recital programme, five in each half (separated by a short interval); this is done very rarely as far as I am aware - and the challenge of presenting the entire cycle is self-evidently considerable - but it does make a marvellous programme.

Best,

Alistair

[klavieronin]

I adore Scriabin. I remember the first time I heard any of his music was Horowitz playing the D# minor étude from Op.8 in that documentary "The Art Of Piano". I've been hooked ever since.

[joshjackson]

Any Scriabin fans out there? Dude was a nutbar but man... he had a lot to tell us. I'd love to hear what compositions of his you guys enjoy.

Cheers

Why was he a "nutbar"?

I don't usually like late 19th/early 20th Century music but I do like some of his 24 Preludes, Op 11. Haven't had a listen to his sonatas though.

[mjames]

Why was he a "nutbar"?

I don't usually like late 19th/early 20th Century music but I do like some of his 24 Preludes, Op 11. Haven't had a listen to his sonatas though.

Have you read his letters and essays? That guy literally thought he was some sort of prophet/God. Wanted to premiere his Mysterium at the top of Mount Everest, thinking that it would signal the end of our world...?

I wouldn't call him a nutjob in the likes of say Schumann or Hans Rott, but the guy was clearly a delusional megalomaniac.  

Edit:

"At times he thought he was God (being born on Christmas Day reinforced this delusion) and once he tried to walk on water on Lake Geneva and preached to the fishermen"

https://www.52composers.com/scriabin.html

[ahinton]

Have you read his letters and essays? That guy literally thought he was some sort of prophet/God. Wanted to premiere his Mysterium at the top of Mount Everest, thinking that it would signal the end of our world...?

I wouldn't call him a nutjob in the likes of say Schumann or Hans Rott, but the guy was clearly a delusional megalomaniac.  

Edit:

"At times he thought he was God (being born on Christmas Day reinforced this delusion) and once he tried to walk on water on Lake Geneva and preached to the fishermen"

https://www.52composers.com/scriabin.html

But can you point successfully to anything in the actual music that he completed which is suggestive of "delusional megalomania"? What's "delusional" (and how so) about his études, sonatas &c.? and where's the megalomania in his vast corpus of piano music of which no individual work is longer than the First Sonata and even that plays for only around 20 minutes?

Rott, like Schumann before him and Duparc after him (and they were not entirely alone in this) did indeed suffer mental illness towards the ends of their lives, but what impact do you suppose that this might have made on the music that they wrote before that condition took hold? Schumann's works have for the most part remained in the general reportoire ever since they were composed, Rott's one completed symphony earned accolades from Bruckner (whose organ pupil he was) and Mahler and Duparc's 17 surviving songs are widely regarded as among the finest French art-songs in existgence.

Best,

Alistair

[visitor]

favorite of mine in top 5 composers for me for sure. the Fantasy op 28 is my favorite of his sonatas, and in my top 3 of all pieces pieces, of all time, period. I love that thing so much. I do not tire of it.

[mjames]

Calm down Hinton, I like you but sometimes I think you write too much. I was only talking about his personality, not his music.

[ahinton]

Calm down Hinton, I like you but sometimes I think you write too much. I was only talking about his personality, not his music.

I'm perfectly calm, thanks! The trouble is that some people seem unable and/or unwilling to separate the person from the music.

Best,

Alistair

[mjames]

Yeah I don't know how calling a piece of music "delusional" validates as sound criticism, but yeah I see that a lot too. But rest assured, I was only commenting about the man, not the music! The music is mighty fine though.

It's also quite an interesting thing you said about his sonata cycle demonstrating the development of his musical language. I think that the preludes, and not just the op. 11 set, all 70+ preludes pretty much gives you the same demonstration. Although on a lesser scale, you can see that Scriabin used the prelude form for musical experimentation (much like Chopin did with his mazurkas.) They also stretch out from his early period (op.2) to the very end (op. 74). I'd love to go an "complete Scriabin preludes" program, it sounds like an awesome experience! The "complete sonatas" too...

[2pac_lives]

Everything that comes from nutbars like Scriabin is pure gold.

[ahinton]

Yeah I don't know how calling a piece of music "delusional" validates as sound criticism, but yeah I see that a lot too. But rest assured, I was only commenting about the man, not the music! The music is mighty fine though.

It's also quite an interesting thing you said about his sonata cycle demonstrating the development of his musical language. I think that the preludes, and not just the op. 11 set, all 70+ preludes pretty much gives you the same demonstration. Although on a lesser scale, you can see that Scriabin used the prelude form for musical experimentation (much like Chopin did with his mazurkas.) They also stretch out from his early period (op.2) to the very end (op. 74). I'd love to go an "complete Scriabin preludes" program, it sounds like an awesome experience! The "complete sonatas" too...

Good points - although a complete Scriabin preludes recital would probably not have quite the same effect as one traversing all of his sonatas...

Best,

Alistair

[handz]

He was genius.

 He is my favorite along with Rachmaninov and Chopin

Im currently going thorough Preludes op 11 and wow, so much music in such short pieces - I love them.

His sonatas are essential I think. Etudes op 8 are amazing too. Another my favorites are Etudes op 42 - again very short pieces but full of music .  Of course many of his later modernistic pieces are great, just hard to get into. Vers la flamme is one of the better known great piece of him I like. 

I also love his symphonic stuff.

[mjames]

Good points - although a complete Scriabin preludes recital would probably not have quite the same effect as one traversing all of his sonatas...

Best,

Alistair

They might be beautiful, but they don't leave quite the impact the same way the sonatas do!

[ahinton]

They might be beautiful, but they don't leave quite the impact the same way the sonatas do!

Indeed!

Best,

Alistair

[chopinawesome]

Preludes are my favorites.

[diomedes]

Even as my capacity to learn repertoire increases, the idea of playing 5 Scriabin sonatas in a recital is intimidating. It's incredibly complex writing. My other concern is the demands would possibly reflect on the quality of the performance.

As for his personality, I read his entire biography by Bowers, quite an insight to his music, I believe.

I wonder how anyone feels about the connections between one's personality manifestation in both playing and also compositions. It seems an obvious statement, but its something I think about.

How this reflects on the consciousness and being of Scriabin or Rachmaninoff is of great interest to me.

[ahinton]

Even as my capacity to learn repertoire increases, the idea of playing 5 Scriabin sonatas in a recital is intimidating. It's incredibly complex writing. My other concern is the demands would possibly reflect on the quality of the performance.

So you can presumably well imagine what it would be like to play all ten in a single programme!

The pianist whom I heard do this is Jonathan Powell, a leading international authority on Scriabin; he's not the only pianist to do this or indeed the first, but a single programme of all the Scriabin sonatas remains a rare thing indeed, yet it can work so remarkably well that it's something of a wonder that others haven't yet done it!

Best,

Alistair

[piulento]

Wonderful composer. Those russians are god damn amazing.
Thinking about starting his prelude and nocturne for the left hand op. 9 soon

[rubinsteinmad]

"At times he thought he was God (being born on Christmas Day reinforced this delusion) and once he tried to walk on water on Lake Geneva and preached to the fishermen"

Sounds like Scriabin watched way too much Percy Jackson