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any scriabin lovers out there???

i love scriabins music i think its so briliant and original,

anyone have favorite peices by him, or performances of his music??

for me richter playing vers la flame

and many though not ll of horowitz's performances, one of my favorite peices by him is etude Op. 42 # 4 or 5 i cant remember, but it starts out very turbulent, and then out of nowhere this beautiful melody emerges...its really an amazing peice

your thoughts.....

To my ears the most hypnotic Scriabin player is V. Sofronitzky. S. Richter might be the most forceful spokesperson. However, the best recordings of etudes Op.8 and Op.42 belong to Lazar Berman. Berman also owns Fantasie, Op.28. These're, of course, my personal views & preferences...

I got hooked on Scriabin's piano music nearly thirty years ago when I was in university. We thought of it as classical psychedelica. Perhaps we weren't too far wrong having read about the composer and his synesthetic perception of sound, not to mention his theosophical and mystical outlook.

I agree that Sofronitsky is perhaps the greatest recorded interpreter of Scriabin's music. (Afterall he did marry the composer's daughter!)
It is ironic that he carried the composers music forward particularly at a time when there was a reaction against Scriabin's music in the USSR in the 1920's and 1930's. It was left to Horowitz to keep the music alive in the West. Horowitz'playing of Sonatas 9 and 10 and Vers La Flamme still raises the hair on the back my neck when I hear them.

You may however want to get a hold of Roberto Szidon's recordings of the sonatas on DG from the 1970's. They too are excellent as are Marc Andre-Hamelin's more recent recordings of the same. Mikhail Rudy also did a first rate performance of all Scriabin's late piano works on Caliope in the early 80's. I also enjoy Gordon Fergus-Thompson's recordings. I do not much care for Ashkenhazy's or Igor Zhukov's recordings. Both seem to be impatient in their interpretations of the music. There are also some recordings out there of individual works. Ronald Pointinen recorded a demonic version of the 7th Sonata on BIS in the 1980's which nicely complements the Horowitz performances of the 9th and 10th. Its unfortunate that other than Szidon and Hamelin no one has relooked at the 6th Sonata- Scriabin himself was actually afraid to play it as it conjured malevolent spirits from the floors and baseboards of the room!

Keep listening the music will continue to grow on you. I really enjoy listening to and playing the Prelude No. 4 in E minor, Op.11.

The only Scriabin I have played is the left hand op. 9, but since this piece earned me an A learning it in 3 weeks for my very first jury in university, I have a particular love for it. Plus it is beautiful! From what I know of his other works, his sonatas are particularly interesting.

All of Scriabin’s music has an instantaneous appeal for me as of something exotic, far off, occasionally malevolent, but deeply felt. Some have him confused with Chopin. But if Chopin is sensual, Scriabin is sexual. You are in a frankly adult world with real adult emotions. I have my favorites. The Fourth Piano Sonata Op. 30, the Valse Op 38, the Album Leaf, the ineffable one page masterpiece called Nuances. I get the chill thrills just thinking about them. I’ve played through these a number of times, but I have decided to try and memorize the not as well known or liked Mazurkas Op 25. There are nine of them. So far I’ve made it through the first six. The first I learned was the fourth, then the second, the first and then the third, then the fifth. But Scriabin is not a palatable diet long term. I get depressed. After all I did loose a wife almost eight years ago and sometimes this music makes me long for her. I have to balance off with some lighter fare from the eighteenth century. Steven Fandrich, Darrell's son, a far better pianist than I am, and with his father's pianos around who wouldn't be, plays and loves Scriabin. I really enjoyed hearing him play some of these. Maybe more people will hear him play one day. I hope so.

You know I have never even heard a Scriabin peice before. Maybe I should listen to one. I'll have a look around on the internet. I think that I'll probably be able to find something at the classical archives.

jgoo,

You can try David Burton's WEB site. It has a link to many young Scriabinists' MP3s. Of course there's no shortage of recorded Scriabin on CDs. You probably don't want to miss the Concerto in F# minor, Op.20.

Before I forget, I'd like to add that you probably don't want to miss Scriabin's 3 Symphonies. I enjoyed Inbal's directorship the most...

I regret that the Young Scriabinists page has been taken down many months ago. Only John Bell Young knows anything more about why. You can well imagine that I have purchased the Sofronitzky recordings, any I could get my hands on, but John Bell Young is a fine performer of Scriabin’s music too. His Prisms album is certainly worth trying to get, before they are sold out.