Horowitz plays Scriabin Sonata No. 10 Opus 70 (a)

[helmusico]

4:08 remember Gould

[dasklavierleben]

"Scriabin once called it: ''sonata of insects...'', this idea came from his philosophical ideas; the world (existence) is created by thought. "

I'm not seeing the connection...?

[toneeeeeee]

One of my all time favorite pieces. Puts visual art to shame; It opens up an entire spectrum of colors that otherwise couldn't be seen...

This isn't just a sonata of insects, It's a sonata of flippant, evil, playful and all powerful creation.

Thanks Scriabin!

[RWinkley02124]

@toneeeeeee The overt evocation of ecstasy in this work is probably found nowhere else in the pianistic canon!

[MegaNevsky]

Horowitz c'est comme si dieu était venu sur Terre... ou le diable...

[Starwalker6978]

I used to read a lot about quantum physics; Did you read Zukav's "The Dancing Wu Li Masters"? It is a fantastic book about quantum physics! Scriabin read Nietzsche and Schopenhauer; sometimes I call Scriabin the Nietzsche among composers; - but he was something completely individual of course! Scriabin believed (knew) that the world is created by thought; thus he referred to this sonata as the sonata of insects!

[Fishies125]

No way! I started getting into quantum physics and started reading about it like a week ago. I've always loved this sonata and started to realize that it was the perfect companion to my studies in quantum physics, especially when you get into the really weird concepts. I had no idea Scriabin was into quantum physics and possibly even had this in mind when writing this piece!

[Starwalker6978]

I used to read a lot about quantum physics; Did you read Zukav's "The Dancing Wu Li Masters"? It is a fantastic book about quantum physics! Scriabin read Nietzsche and Schopenhauer; sometimes I call Scriabin the Nietzsche among composers; - but he was something completely individual of course! Scriabin believed (knew) that the world is created by thought; thus he referred to this sonata as the sonata of insects!

[Starwalker6978]

I used to read a lot about quantum physics; Did you read Zukav's "The Dancing Wu Li Masters"? It is a fantastic book about quantum physics! Scriabin read Nietzsche and Schopenhauer; sometimes I call Scriabin the Nietzsche among composers; - but he was something completely individual of course! Scriabin believed (knew) that the world is created by thought; thus he referred to this sonata as the sonata of insects!

[morvensky]

Simply the best performance of this piece I have heard...

[kempff95]

Did you all know that scraibin was crazy and a sick man and schizophrenic ,at his concerts he have pie .

This music is so crazy beautifully that i have a chill aii over my body .

He was a crazy mad genius man........

[morvensky]

He also thought he was the messiah.

Oddly, he was born on Christmas and died on Easter.

[loltheworld]

Scriabin himself called this the insect sonata and I would agree, but this quasi-dissonant space stuff sounds very suiting as well

[Fishies125]

@loltheworld Ya, I tend to picture more space/quantum physics stuff lol

[billyguns2]

Music from another planet. One of Horowitz's greatest performances, IMO.

[pianopera]

I think this is my all-time favourite Scriabin recording.

Interesting combination of music and images, though IMO the cold cosmic splendor lacks the orgiastic quality of the music.

[Starwalker6978]

Well, I wouldn't dare to enter those burning fumes and gasses known as nebulae or star-birth clouds. The second and third pictures are artistic images of Venus (very hot indeed). The first picture is cold, yet beautiful and mysterious.

I experience Scriabin as a vast and frozen space that suddenly starts burning and exploding into creative fires. -(This is a little clumsy explanation of all the splendor inherent.) Not every passage is orgiastic, there must be lots of contrast!

[pianopera]

Well, it is like constant ebbing and flooding, this gives the contrasts.

To me the orgiastic fire is more related to human eroticism and mysticism and not necessarily to the heat and strange beauty of some distant planet or star.

Also, Scriabin's own comparison with insects suggests that the music is rather earthbound, not cosmic.

If there is another star involved, it would be the sun, the light and warmth of the sun, but as we experience it here on earth...

[Starwalker6978]

The earlier sonatas are rather terrestial, from number 5 it gets more cosmic (earth is part of it ofcourse)... And even with the earlier ones, one can easily imagine extra-terrestial wolds teeming with life!

It doesn't much matter whether terrestial or not - Scriabin's existence implied the whole universe as a creation of thought, not just earth! The vast emptiness of mindlessness, the state of egolessness is a universal state....