Vladimir Sofronitsky plays Scriabin Fantasie h-moll, Op. 28

[quasivitric]

Brings me chills and tears every time I listen to it. Thank you for posting!

[mfiadeiro]

Magnificent interpretation! Truly spectacular!

Can't thank you enough for posting this gem.

[darkblueangel1956]

La qualità della registrazione è proprio mediocre, ma il grande e leggendario Sofronitsky ci insegna (anche solo con la Fantasia op. 28) la "dizione" sul senso del bello nel fraseggio delle melodie, la tecnica pianistica completa, da fibrillazione, un intimo senso poetico, per mostrandoci così il suo universo personale, dove il "bello assoluto" con Skryabyn, e poi anche Schumann, e Chopin, e Liszt: tutte le sue guide spirituali, dal Tempio degli Dei della Musica ! SUBLIME !! DA SOGNO !!!

[galapz]

from 1:54 - 2:20 I usually don't make this kind of statements, but I really have never heard anyone play this such magical expression and every possible shade of color on piano.

What an artist was Vladimir Sofronitsky.

[rainyskies89]

@galapz yes, magical is the word i was looking for!

[douloureux327]

What a dramatic sound...

[Ally123234]

Music for the soul

[tweriovnzxclb]

Actually, my favorite next to this one is now Hamelin: watch?v=Hgoxw1QU7Zw

[ragudicarne]

....Lazar Berman is my fav Skriabin fantasie performance!!!

[aardvaark069]

@ragudicarne yes but only for me in the 1950 performance which seems to have been removed from youtube. TRAGEDY

[dallaspianophile]

fire and ice.... Sofrnotisky's color and pianism and pure, as well as ecstatic grasp of the meaning of Scriabin's music absolutely inspires me, opens my mind and hearing to such greater possibilities. I can't imagine what it was like to hear him live.

[Ruchfun]

This performance is so

wonderfully passionate and unique!

[Jenjoliveur]

5:12 is so wonderful !

[GaryPansey]

Excellent Romantic climax!

[zartsekel]

Impressive but hard to listen to after Neuhaus. His light manner seems to me more suitable for Scriabin`s elegant style. Sofronitsky makes it sound like Maler.

[tweriovnzxclb]

Amazing. If I could hear this in better quality I think I'd have some kind of mental orgasm.

[kasparluzhin]

Awesome.

[profoundlysecret1]

THIS is the Fantasie I'm talking about! The mountain is inside him, and he needs to build none to block himself. The phrase "all too human" becomes unnecessary...what matters is not what he has, becomes, or fills himself with. When he closes his eyes, the world inside is the ultimate Fantasie.

[Lukecash12]

Precisely. You just detailed exactly why I practice music 6-8 hours a day, and then study the art composition for most of the rest of the day.

[galapz]

I think the second theme 1:54 is beyond belief so natural and so many shades of sound, it gives me goose bumps.

Thank you

[esorlanrete]

Both Scriabin and Sofronitsky live in this relentless toss and turn, in a land of flowers and thorns, in a place that thunders and burns, while eyeing the distant horizon...

[ASirensSoliloquy]

That was beautiful.

[NOSEhow2LIV]

Intensity, density & immensity. This must be one of Sofronitsky's best interpretations in a work tailor-made for his impulsive, instinctive vision.

[chenchenseven]

how intoxicating this piece is, this can compare with any greatest pieces in the piano history!

[truecrypt]

Search Google for "The Music Notation Project"

[MarshalGZhukov]

Because the germans call B "H", and B-flat "B".

[Reaper978]

This is really some of the greatest music ever written.

[tedly10027]

they come from the earlier period both. when scriabin was clearly very steeped in the late romantic lushness of extended tonalities..reminds of chopin's barcarolle also in its breadth of sound (but even more heightened) and has a VERY wagnerian way of motivic/thematic/contrapuntal development and sections evolving to one another..INCREDIBLE piece of work.

[liveclassix]

packend und mitreissend

[evskimo69]

the canonic treatement of the melody in the 2nd theme is really sublime in this recording. amazing pianism/imagination

[pjioayncoe]

Wow...the early Scriabin definitely has to be one of the most passionate and fearless person who is not afraid to give every part of his soul to music.

[superclarenceboi]

Yea....It's such a waste that his life has to end dreadfully...His compositions in his final years (Like the black mass sonata etc...), I just cannot understand or appreciate it...This is the Scriabin I was attracted to all along...Wished he had left us more of such amazing music!!

[Lukecash12]

I know what you're getting at, and in my opinion even his late pieces are equally emotionally driven, and they are some of my absolute favorites in the world of music.

[superclarenceboi]

heh, everyone has different opinions and preferences. That was just my own opinion and so you have yours too. But what we are all trying to say is the same thing: Scriabin is a great composer and musician

[Lukecash12]

Yes, he certainly is, my friend.

[bachopinberg]

I like both, as if young and mature were two different great composers (of course it's great they are the same man!)

[TheRedArmy10]

@pjioayncoe Scriabin really admired Chopin and he (Chopin) had a great influence on Scriabin's early works.

It is by the way one of Sofronitsky's last recordings.

[volodya2]

@pjioayncoe I agree, but i think that is that excessive liberty take him to crazyness.

[yekhaty]

dear friend, let's agree, Fantasy is an amazing performance already! so why try to add more fantasy! :) this story about time together of Sofronitsky and Scriabin, everyone knows they never met...

[d60944]

My favourite work by Scriabin played by the very best performer of his music. This recording is priceless. Such understabnding of the shapes, moods, direction, phrasing and the phenomenal technical demands surmounted without losing control of tone (esp in the recap of the "second subject" tune - some of the most difficult left hand piano writing I know of!). Thanks for posting.

[tedly10027]

absolutely agree. i know this work quite well too..and sofronitsky -- in scriabin - after reviewing famous pianists we've mostly all known in scriabin performances - Sofronistky is IT.

as rubinstein is justifiably to always be remembered as the Chopin player par excellence...sofronitsky is to scriabin. he expresses the "mystical" flights of scriabin to the 'T'. with technique, refinement, power and drama and color to burn like he just tosses them off like pebbles.

[Lukecash12]

Actually, Sofronitzky is my favorite Schubert, Scriabin, Schumann, Rachmaninov, and Chopin pianist.

[elineangelica]

gosh! the atmospheare in the beginning, to begin with.. this recording is stunning

[galapz]

The way he plays second theme at 1:54 is one of the most sublime moments in the entire Scriabin music absolutely magical.

Thank you