Day 309
Scriabin: Two piano sonatas
No 7 - White Mass
No 9 - Black Mass
Vladimir Ashkenazy
I don’t know much Scriabin. I did play in the orchestra for the piano concerto when I was university and have played some of the simpler piano music. I recall hearing the second symphony years ago but I don’t think that I have heard anything else of his.
These two piano sonatas were chosen because of their titles - contrasting black and white mass, although only the ‘black’ title is Scriabin’s own. This is not really my sort of music - I find virtuoso piano music with fists fulls of chords and lots of flourishes rather off putting and certainly the 7th sonata fell into that category for me . I couldn’t see any shape or logic in - it did sound as if a gifted pianist simply sat down and started to hammer the keyboard and show off as much as possible.
The 9th sonata was rather different. It was restrained for much of the time and had a much clearer shape. You could see and hear the way that the material developed and there was real character in the music. But even given this I don’t think that I will spend much more time with Scriabin.
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