Scriabin Etude Op.8 No.12 and Haydn Sonata No.60 1st mvt.

[throwawaynotreally]

Hey all,

I've been meaning to enter these two recordings for an international competition preselection round (Ettlingen, for Junior pianists) and would love your opinions - do you think they'll make it?

I also want to submit this:

but I need to clarify if they allow live recordings.

Thanks!

[piulento]

Wow, these are great!
They'll definitely make it

[throwawaynotreally]

Thanks so much piulento )

[rv]

Awesome. I enjoyed the Scriabin etude very much. Thanks!

I'm working on the piece myself. Do you have any advice on how to play the double-notes that appear in the left hand at measure 11 and onwards ? Those make the left hand suddenly a lot more difficult.

Do you play (some of) the upper notes with right hand, or both with left?
There is opportunity to play the upper notes with right hand, but I think it will screw up the flow of the piece.
Thanks in advance.

[cometear]

Gosh I love the Haydn sonatas <3

I was listening to them LITERALLY all day today!!

[isaacmalitz]

Here are some comments that I hope will stimulate you as you advance to “the next level” with your playing of the Scriabin Etude. Let me know if these comments turn out to be useful. [I am using specific technical method in constructing these comments, so very interested to find out if the result is useful to you]. I know my language is a little bombastic, that seems the most natural style for this subject matter, rather than writing like a bureaucrat.

Obviously you play it "quite well" already. But this specific etude has extraordinary potential, and there is much more that can be done with it. I believe that even great performances by Sofronitsky, Horowitz (

) are only partial realizations of the potential of this work.

What do I mean by this? This etude stimulates the listener in a multitude of ways, and mainly at the same time. In the course of two minutes, it is: Virtuosic; sweetly poetic and dreamy; violent; crude and destructive; retro; futuristic; organized and "simple"; chaotic; spiritual; "mad"; finely proportioned; cataclysmic; rational; bombastic; prophetic; "pathetic" (Patetico!); and more (carnal ecstasy, religious ecstasy, visceral pulsations, sex, ...). When it is played well, this multi-stimulation can put the listener in a kind of frenzy. And the highly-organized power of the work can be explosive, if you can connect with it. When I think of Scriabin the musician, I imagine him as a living Nicolas Tesla creation, electricity running through his body, no sleep, neurons blazing. It is a monumental effort to construct a performance that assimilates all of the above (and the above is not a complete enumeration of what is loaded into this work).

What to do with this piece? Here are a few practical specifics:

[1] The #1 impression that this work makes is as a virtuosic work. It is an octave etude. Your octaves are already fluent. But here is what to do next:

  - Review the melodic lines. Structure them for a very high degree of variation re speed and volume.
     Practice the octave melodies with two hands to get them exactly the way you hear the melodies.
     Then emulate with RH alone. No compromises ! You have the equipment to do this.
     It is more of a challenge for the ears than your body.

   - Maximum dynamic variation for the piece. The middle section can be light and quicksilver.
      The return of the big melody and what follows, absolutely brutal in places

[2] Another major impression of the piece is as a declamatory work. Like an oration or a prophecy.
A couple of items to get you in the mood

,
or the poem "God Give Us Men"  https://www.theotherpages.org/poems/holland1.html
(I realize that I am framing the work as somewhat bombastic; but as per the psychologist Carl Jung, great art often does often have a bombastic element.)

The way you play the piece now, the pulsations are too mechanical (a heavy emphasis at the beginning of every other measure at the outset. This gets tedious). A more "declamatory" approach is natural to this music. It "sounds" better; it still will sound rhythmic and musical; but it also communicates the oratorical/prophetic character of this work (I have read that Scriabin may have thought he was God !!), and this excites the listener. Horowitz captures this element well in his performances of the work.

[3] Architecture, harmonic structure

One of Scriabin's compositional methods was to support his wild compositional material with a relatively simple architecture. In this work, the structure of the work, the harmonic architecture is straightforward. You seem to have a fairly good grasp of this already. But a very careful study and a superb grasp will help the performance to "penetrate" the listeners. And it also enhances the impression that you are the virtuoso-master, the captain who confidently steers the ship through the violent storm !!

There is much much more I could say. But I'm going to take a break, get back with a few more comments later in the week.
Enjoy! And "blow 'em away" when you play this wonderful work !!!

[throwawaynotreally]

Here are some comments that I hope will stimulate you as you advance to “the next level” with your playing of the Scriabin Etude. Let me know if these comments turn out to be useful. [I am using specific technical method in constructing these comments, so very interested to find out if the result is useful to you]. I know my language is a little bombastic, that seems the most natural style for this subject matter, rather than writing like a bureaucrat.

Obviously you play it "quite well" already. But this specific etude has extraordinary potential, and there is much more that can be done with it. I believe that even great performances by Sofronitsky, Horowitz (

) are only partial realizations of the potential of this work.

What do I mean by this? This etude stimulates the listener in a multitude of ways, and mainly at the same time. In the course of two minutes, it is: Virtuosic; sweetly poetic and dreamy; violent; crude and destructive; retro; futuristic; organized and "simple"; chaotic; spiritual; "mad"; finely proportioned; cataclysmic; rational; bombastic; prophetic; "pathetic" (Patetico!); and more (carnal ecstasy, religious ecstasy, visceral pulsations, sex, ...). When it is played well, this multi-stimulation can put the listener in a kind of frenzy. And the highly-organized power of the work can be explosive, if you can connect with it. When I think of Scriabin the musician, I imagine him as a living Nicolas Tesla creation, electricity running through his body, no sleep, neurons blazing. It is a monumental effort to construct a performance that assimilates all of the above (and the above is not a complete enumeration of what is loaded into this work).

What to do with this piece? Here are a few practical specifics:

[1] The #1 impression that this work makes is as a virtuosic work. It is an octave etude. Your octaves are already fluent. But here is what to do next:

  - Review the melodic lines. Structure them for a very high degree of variation re speed and volume.
     Practice the octave melodies with two hands to get them exactly the way you hear the melodies.
     Then emulate with RH alone. No compromises ! You have the equipment to do this.
     It is more of a challenge for the ears than your body.

   - Maximum dynamic variation for the piece. The middle section can be light and quicksilver.
      The return of the big melody and what follows, absolutely brutal in places

[2] Another major impression of the piece is as a declamatory work. Like an oration or a prophecy.
A couple of items to get you in the mood

,
or the poem "God Give Us Men"  https://www.theotherpages.org/poems/holland1.html
(I realize that I am framing the work as somewhat bombastic; but as per the psychologist Carl Jung, great art often does often have a bombastic element.)

The way you play the piece now, the pulsations are too mechanical (a heavy emphasis at the beginning of every other measure at the outset. This gets tedious). A more "declamatory" approach is natural to this music. It "sounds" better; it still will sound rhythmic and musical; but it also communicates the oratorical/prophetic character of this work (I have read that Scriabin may have thought he was God !!), and this excites the listener. Horowitz captures this element well in his performances of the work.

[3] Architecture, harmonic structure

One of Scriabin's compositional methods was to support his wild compositional material with a relatively simple architecture. In this work, the structure of the work, the harmonic architecture is straightforward. You seem to have a fairly good grasp of this already. But a very careful study and a superb grasp will help the performance to "penetrate" the listeners. And it also enhances the impression that you are the virtuoso-master, the captain who confidently steers the ship through the violent storm !!

There is much much more I could say. But I'm going to take a break, get back with a few more comments later in the week.
Enjoy! And "blow 'em away" when you play this wonderful work !!!

Thank you very much, I can't believe I only saw this now (I never visit this site anymore)!
I wish I saw this earlier - I brought this to some international competitions over the summer (it progressed me to the final round in one of them), and I'm sure it would've benefited me greatly if I had logged on earlier.
Your comments were very interesting. Thank you for enlightening me on this piece, I'm beginning to see it in a whole different light now, with much more understanding and depth.

[throwawaynotreally]

Awesome. I enjoyed the Scriabin etude very much. Thanks!

I'm working on the piece myself. Do you have any advice on how to play the double-notes that appear in the left hand at measure 11 and onwards ? Those make the left hand suddenly a lot more difficult.

Do you play (some of) the upper notes with right hand, or both with left?
There is opportunity to play the upper notes with right hand, but I think it will screw up the flow of the piece.
Thanks in advance.

Hey, sorry if I'm months late, but thanks!
All I did for the left hand really was slow and solid practice, nothing much else
I play quite a few left hand notes with my right hand, as I've quite a small span. The trick for me again was extremely slow practice, exaggerating the phrasing, eyes closed and singing along to the voices!

[tmjorden]

Yes I think they will make it! I didn't listen to the Scriabin but I'm also playing the Haydn for competition. It was great just remember Haydn is light and not too loud. Stay quiet in places like the second to last theme of the exposition and the middle of the development. Great job though!