Scriabin: Suggestions

[kc_gracie]

Hello all,

This may be a tad bit annoying, as I have asked this forum for suggestions for Liszt repertoire some time back. Regardless, I thought I would ask anyways about Scriabin...

So, over the past year or two, I have listened to Scriabin here and there. I have somewhat enjoyed his music, but didn't really explore it and really only heard certain pieces from various Horowitz albums. More recently, I have begun listening to all of his works. There are just so many solo piano pieces that it is truly a gold mine. And, more interestingly, Scriabin comes in so many different flavors from his early works to his middle period to his late period. As such, I would really like to add a few to my repertoire over the next several months/year (resolutions, right?), ideally with at least one from each period of time.

I am much more familiar with his works now and have played some of his earlier works, including the Op.2 No.1 Etude and the Op.32 No.1 Poeme. I have a very strong liking (listening) for the second and ninth sonatas (and maybe others as well), enjoy his Poeme-Nocturne, his Impromptus are beautiful, among others. I want to know more and really want to pin down what I want to work on.

With all of this in mind, I would love to hear suggestions as to good pieces to explore from each period of his. I am not concerned with difficulty in this discussion (pertaining as to whether or not I could handle it) and the getting a feel for this and that, so feel free to suggest anything (except I would be lying if I said the 5th sonata didn't scare me). You can state if you think the piece is a monster or what not, I just don't want it to devolve into something about how hard a certain piece is or a silly ranking of sorts. Easy and difficult pieces welcome.

So, any favorites or suggestions? I am curious to learn which pieces people prefer and how to arrange a handful of pieces that would be a good set to showcase his different periods. And, again, I am currently considering his second and ninth sonata or perhaps some poemes or impromptus of his and wonder if this gives a good feel for the differences across his compositional history. Particularly the ninth sonata. So interesting and different.

Thanks for any suggestions and I look forward to hearing from you all.

-KC

[j_tour]

Well, as just some random dude, I could suggest working at what was suggested to me as worthwhile by another forum member.

The Op. 74 Préludes.  I've been working at them intermittently for a number of months.  The challenges (for me) are mostly musical decisions that have to be made.  The interest in that set is that it's small, and avoids the romantic excesses that other acolytes of Chopin never grew out of.

I would compare the tendency in this set to Berg's piano sonata, and I know there's somebody here who wrote a doctoral or master's thesis on the Berg.

If I wanted to make a nice recital, and please the masters?  I'd put the Op. 74 of Scriabin right near the Op. 1 of Berg.

And then you can do the puppet theater with all of that other stuff Scriabin wrote, which, to be sure, was not bad at all.

The challenge and the interest for me in the Op. 74 is that there are no merely mechanical obstacles (well, big hands and facility with wide leaps is a big help, although I don't know the experience of being impeded by these), but that one must create the music according to a coherent schema.  Some child might say "that's easy," but that's why one doesn't associate with children.  At least not knowingly.

The notational choices Scriabin made for these in particular are bizarre, but the set is commanding and very acceptable as music to me.

I also like the Op. 57, but I haven't put as much time into those.

It seems you have the technique/mechanical ability to do what you want, but TBH the sonatas after the Black Mass sonata, and the White Mass sonata as well, for that matter, almost frightened me to never attempt Scriabin's music again.  As you know, there are some problems there, both in Scriabin's sometimes eccentric notation and basic mechanical ability.

But, no, I don't have the knowledge to create a complete program or biography of AS's music:  that would be your job.  (I would put all of the obvious Chopinesque pieces into one small corner of such a program, and regally dismiss it).  But it would be a great dishonor to omit the Op. 74 from such a program, in my opinion.  It would be equally a great triumph as a musician to execute these small pieces in a coherent fashion.

EDIT here's Gilels playing the set.  I think the third prélude gave me the most problems:  it's an artistic decision, how hard one wants to emphasize the martial beat primarily in the LH. 

I think Gilels is a good example of how, in my view, this brief set should be played.

Oh, and ad the below poster, yes, that impromptu is very nice, and you could certainly play it.  I think you, the OP, probably have bigger game in mind.

[ivorycherry]

Hey kc,
I’m not that good of a pianist so you don’t have to take my suggestion seriously but the only Scriabin piece I played was the Impomptu op 12 no 2 and it’s really beautiful. I took a lot of time into picking something by Scriabin to put into my repertoire and I immediately wanted to play the Impromptu op 12 no 2 right after I heard it and it’s one of my favorite pieces in my repertoire and by Scriabin. Would highly suggest it.

Alex

[fftransform]

Why not learn the Op. 69 No. 2, Op. 48 No. 1 or Vers la flamme to go along with your Op. 32 Poeme?  I'm doing Vers la flamme rn, it really doesn't require any 'technique' except some tremolos at the end.  Mostly it's just jumping around.  You need ultra-reliable/confident double note voicing, but that's about it, most of the difficulty is interpretive.

[kc_gracie]

Hello all,

These are some great suggestions. I had never listened to Op.57 or Op.74. I really like these sets. I think I will only pick one of these sets and may look through the scores some and play around to decide. I should also state that I am set on the ninth sonata as well (I have already started playing this piece these past couple of weeks). I wasn't sure if I would like learning it, but I have to say I find it more enjoyable than I had anticipated. The score is definitely hard to read sometimes, but I feel that once you figure it out, it sticks decently well. Work in progress for sure.

I also plan to pick back up the Op.32 No.1 Poeme. I had never listened to the Op.12 impromptus. Wow, they are both so beautiful and very Chopin-esque, but different as well. I really like No.2, so thanks for the suggestions. I would love to learn No.1 as well.

I will also consider Vers la flamme (good suggestion). However, I had not looked at the score prior to today and thought it was way to hard before investigating (I just always think of that recording of Horowitz in his home where he tells everyone to be quiet because it is a very hard piece). But, after looking at it more and listening to the piece, I think it could be fun. I will consider it for sure. TBD.

So right now, those are the pieces I am considering. Would still love to hear more suggestions. Oh, and to be clear, while it would be fun to put together a program, right now, this is just for fun. I have no plans to put this into a recital or anything currently (except for myself). Perhaps in the future I can lean that way or combine some of these pieces with other material in my repertoire.

-KC

[diomedes]

Sounds like you're attracted to the later works. I've done most of 74, the last one is not recommended just cause it's fast and needs a big span for some unbelievably awkward intervals. Musically, that's how a composer really should go bang. Otherwise, if you're ok with scriabin language, the rest of 74 is ok. I find the music of it has a almost overbearing taste of his newly developing sound.

The ninth sonata is probably the most approachable. I found it to be the easiest sonata and very rewarding. And the double notes fit the hand surprisingly well but that part also needs some rearranging. Having also done 6 and 7 I'd say they're both very demanding. Especially with memory work on the 6th. 10 is also fairly approachable but generally speaking scriabin sonatas are unusually demanding.

Vers la flamm is great and rewarding but you'll have to deal with some strange solutions to tremolos and cross rhythms. I've often done things in that one particularly that sound good and are slightly approximate.

My suggestion is listen to the late works and find something of interest. 73 is very irresistible, although flames sombres is a real challenge for the left hand. Poeme nocturne is easy to play, horrible to memorize but I really loved that one.

Myself I'm finding I'm warming up to the early preludes, which I always dismissed. With this composer there's always so much to discover

My personal favourites are the op. 42 etudes and sonatas. The polonaise is great and later large  set of mazurkas is really worth time spent.

[kc_gracie]

Thanks for the great suggestions. I actually really like the Op.73 pieces.

I think, currently, I like the idea of learning the ninth sonata and have already begun playing around with the piece. While it was a little confusing in some parts to read, it did fit surprising well under the fingers once I pinned it down. I look forward to learning. In this vain, I think I will pick it over Vers la flamme. I love both, and the more I listen to them, the more they grow on me. However, I think, for now, I will just stick with one of these larger pieces until I learn some of my other goal pieces.

In terms of other works, I really like Op. 73 and think I may pursue that. Other than that, I am thinking of either the Op.12 set of impromptus or a few shorter preludes from Op.13, 16, and 22. I also really adore the Bb-minor etude Op.8 No.11. Some combination of these would be great to learn.

Beyond that, I feel like this is a good starting point of this composer. I also really like the Op.51 and Op.52 pieces. I really feel like Op.51, in particular, is somewhere between Scriabin's middle and later period and feel like you can hear this in these pieces. There is just so much interesting music that he wrote and feel like there is a wide variety in the styles across his career.

Thanks for the suggestions. I look forward to learning some of these pieces.

-KC

[anacrusis]

Scriabin has many awesome pieces that I love!

His 2nd and 5th sonata are givens, I think, but the 5th is very difficult.

If you haven't already, check out Etude in d sharp minor op 8 no 12 (Horowitz plays it awesomely: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ClDFmFmr0k) and Etude in c sharp minor op 42 no 5 (Horowitz again: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xudZ3J4EeoQ)

And of course the 10th sonata (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HWoVqZ_TdXE) of which he said "My Tenth Sonata is a sonata of insects. Insects are born from the sun, they are the kisses of the sun."