Alexander Scriabin - Piano Sonata No. 4, Op. 30 (1903) {Roberto Szidon}

Alexander Nikolayevich Scriabin; Russian: Александр Николаевич Скрябин 6 January 1872 [O.S. 25 December 1871] - 27 April [O.S. 14 April] 1915) was a Russian composer and pianist. In his early years he was greatly influenced by the music of Frédéric Chopin, and wrote works in a relatively tonal, late Romantic idiom. Later, and independently of his highly influential contemporary, Arnold Schoenberg, Scriabin developed a substantially atonal and much more dissonant musical language, which accorded with his personal brand of mysticism. Scriabin was influenced by synesthesia, and associated colors with the various harmonic tones of his atonal scale, while his color-coded circle of fifths was also influenced by theosophy. He is considered by some to be the main Russian Symbolist composer.
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Piano Sonata No. 4 in F-sharp major, Op. 30 (1903)
I. Andante (0:00)
II. Prestissimo volando (3:29)
Roberto Szidon, piano
Scriabin wrote a poem after composing this sonata that explains its meaning:
In a light mist, transparent vapor
Lost afar and yet distinct
A star gleams softly.
How beautiful! The bluish mystery
Of her glow
Beckons me, cradles me.
O bring me to thee, far distant star!
Bathe me in trembling rays
Sweet light!
Sharp desire, voluptuous and crazed yet sweet
Endlessly with no other goal than longing
I would desire
But no! I vault in joyous leap
Freely I take wing.
Mad dance, godlike play!
Intoxicating, shining one!
It is toward thee, adored star
My flight guides me.
Mad dance, godlike play!
Intoxicating, shining one!
Toward thee, created freely for me
To serve the end
My flight of liberation!
In this play
Sheer caprice
In moments I forget thee
In the maelstrom that carries me
I veer from they glimmering rays.
In the intensity of desire
Thou fadest
O distant goal.
But ever thou shinest
As I forever desire thee!
Thou expandest, Star!
Now thou art a Sun
Flamboyant Sun! Sun of Triumph!
Approaching thee by my desire for thee
I lave myself in they changing waves
O joyous god.
I swallow thee
Sea of light.
My self-of-light
I engulf thee!
The sonata is written in a post-Romantic style, similar to Scriabin's other works of the time. The first movement, expressive and calm, is monothematic (based on a single theme). The second movement, celebratory and climactic, starts attacca right after the Andante movement.
A more Romantic idea is the use of cyclic form in restating the Andante’s main theme (dolcissimo) as the ecstatic climax of the Prestissimo volando movement (Focosamente, giubiloso). This outlay appears closely related to the last two movements from the 3rd sonata, also linked by an attacca, where the climax of the finale likewise restates the lyrical Andante theme of the third movement. Russian composers such as Tchaikovsky or Rachmaninoff often restated the lyric theme of the finale movement as climactic coda (for example in the piano concertos). Scriabin instead returns to the 'slow' movement's theme, and this may have led to further experiments with a condensation of form in the single-movement 5th sonata where the climax (estatico) is again a restatement of the Languido theme (dolcissimo).

[@notaire2]

Wunderschöne Interpretation dieser kompakten doch einzigartig komponierten Klaviersonate im veränderlichen Tempo mit klar artikuliertem doch elegantem Anschlag und mit perfekt kalkulierter Dynamik. Wahrlich intelligenter und talentierter Pianist!

[@ninjaassassin27]

The performer brings a sense of poetry and energy long since lost on most interpreters. It's like hearing Scriabin for the first time again.

[@erika6651]

I haven't listened to this piece in years. Beyond the touches of mysticism and occasional Debussian moments, I hear quite a bit of New German School in its ideas.

[@vicb4901]

The chords at the end took me to another realm, of Erroll Garner maybe...