Sofronitsky - Scriabin

[cheries5]

Scriabin was a true mystic genius and interpretations vary. Ruth Laredo's performances are grand. But, she is not on You Tube with this one or No. 3. She has a record, and there are probably CDs, as she is now in the spirit world with Scriabin.

[TheMidsummerSun]

this is phenomenon, what a spiritual interpretation with endless fantasy and poetry, what a freedom and fly. such a pity that having all the competition bullshit nowadays, no one is brave enough to take the risk to search that freedom, with which only an artist could join the process of creation and become one with the music.

[NOSEhow2LIV]

Thank god that this is apparently a Lost Art. For incompetent, ugly, lumpy unrythmic bashing, look no further. Suffer-on-it's-key is his usual self. Ugh.

[jesemus33]

And NOWWWWW.....a big aplause for YOU TUBE!!!!!

[gymgymgymgym]

brilliant, but I feel that he is over using rubato, and some sections become a bit muddled.

[gugunchik]

This is the best and only way scriabin can be played:)

[werq34ac]

some day, i'll play this. (Better start practicing.......)

[vaxx2007]

i cant understand why there is NO ONE real video of him... Sofronitsky dead in 1961..

[lilly763]

This is an amazing interpretation! And the composition is of course beyond words. But I think my piano teacher is going insane, or mistyped, or thought I was someone else, because there is no way I will EVER be able to play this.

[UWSResident]

Now I understand why Richter had such enormous admiration for Sofronitsky, who was clearly one of the very greatest pianists in the world.

This is a towering interpretation of a magnificent work, which ends in a blaze of glory. It made me want to stand up and cheer!

[loboris1995]

@UWSResident Gilels had also this admiration on Sofronitsky^^,and Sofronitsky had an admiration on Richter too^^

[kiasmus]

I love Scriabin more than any other composer. I never get tired of his music. There's something unique in him. I wish I was able to express what it is. His harmonies give me a truly, yet remote, physical pleasure. Sofronitsky is the man, a true sorcerer of the keyboard.

[pommiemarmie]

is the piano lid on the wrong way round in the first photo?

[cerzule]

Luminous performance! Full of flickering lights and dancing shadows - pure incandescent ecstasy!

[alexongcs]

May I please know the date on which this was recorded? Thanks a lot!

[Invalidpoint]

I am of liking this musics.. it is in the sounding good, no?

[otoolehouse]

What fascinates me about Scriabin is that his music follows almost no basic pattern and yet it sounds beautiful. This is music from the soul.

[soami2u]

It would be interesting to know some details on when this was recorded. Sofronitsky died in 1961, and the sound is pretty good considering that the recording has to be around half a century old. Could this recording be taken from the "Great Pianists of the 20th Century" series? I believe the whole series was deleted a few years ago.

[soami2u]

Magnificent!! Perhaps only Scriabin himself could have provided us with such an illuminating performance. The "Prestissimo volando" really flies and ends in blazing, light-filled ecstasy. Surely this comes as close as anything to the composer's own concept of the piece. The photos from the dying days of tsarist Russia are interesting. This was a period when Russia had a real renaissance in the arts, which continued until Stalin put an end to it.

[tHEnOOSEsWING]

nearly

[clubindahol]

neanche quella di Gavrilov è mica male...

[clubindahol]

bellisssima. è la mia sonata preferita! e un giorno la farò! e sarà all'altezza di questa interpretazione. Aut Caesar aut nihil!

[alexongcs]

This is true freedom which shows off in reality the state of confusion and the mind of scriabin. This is fantastic and awesome.

[hatake16]

Hi, can anyone tell me if this is a good competition piece? If so, would it be ok to also mention whats good about it? Thank you.

[zhangensprachen]

Well I would say it's a good choice for competition. However, you may expect the judges to ask for the second movement.

[eristaviserbia]

A performance beyond comparison! The only other performance which can be compared to it in its ecstatic nature is the one by Yakov Kasman.

[smudgepots]

Oddly, the EMI recording of Andrei

Gavrilov in this Sonata is, if anything, even finer! This exists on U Tube but the sound quality is very poor.

[eristaviserbia]

Luckily, I found it. It is nice to here various interpretations. Still, I am emotionally attched to Kasman's recording of the 4th, because I bought the CD in Paris and listened to it there... Ah, the memories!:)

[smudgepots]

Similarly, I heard Gavrilov perform this Sonata at the Royal Festival Hall in 1984. A phenomenal recital, mainly of Rachmaninov and Scriabin, which I shall never forget, and after which I was unable to speak for about 20 minutes...

[RayAtBristolUni]

smudgepots: I'm glad to hear you recommending Andrei Gavrilov, who doesn't receive much attention these days. His Scriabin CD for EMI showed such insight. And EMI are stupidly letting his fine LP version of Prokofiev's Eighth Sonata sit in their archives, forgotten. Nobody there knows anything about the riches of the company's back catalogue, it seems.

[smudgepots]

Maybe not. The Gaspard/Islamey/La Campanella LP and the Rachamaninov EMI Recital which was issued at the same time as the Scriabin were very fine too.

[endorphin2468]

@smudgepots

Speaking is human, music is from god.

Languages are - compared to Scriabin's music - not much more than an ephemeral burp.

That's why the translation of the genesis statement (in the beginning was the word) is so misleading!

God is not a salesman!!!

[skryabyn]

The first movment especially is so colorful

[alexongcs]

STUNNING interpretation!

[muziqueonmymind]

he is so talented he is not moving

[jubulalau]

HUAHUAHAUHAU!!!!

[SarrasaniPianoCircus]

Simply the best. My favourite all times pianist. I began again to play piano after

the discovering of his recordings (and also

a Pogorelich concert...)

[Ravel87]

Wow, some amazing history behind this pianist.

Thanks so much for this vid.

[vya974]

I could still see him at the piano, moving his upper body in unrelated waves and closing the piano lid after each piece! He was the true GOD for all of us. I am not even a pianist...but I collected 27 LP's of Sofronitsky. That was 45 years ago...

[semprebrio]

great imagination

[striprose]

oh , the greatest master of all !

[kobiianardo]

the glue on the left hand is so strangling yet beautiful... and it finally truck my heart out at the violent end.

i thought gavrilov was the definitive version so crisp and deified, but when it comes to the fourth i guess i'm a sadist, and this sofronitsky guy is the devil. (nvm... i'm glad they both existed lol)

[amirpaca]

Wow... thats mind boggling!

[supersmashmike45]

The most amazing pianist ever

[beatriche2000]

divine!

[francovarenna]

scriabin !!!!!!!!!!!! a God

[angiolettiangela]

Scriabin - Sofronisky >>>>>>>>> what to want more : My god >> amazing , wonderful. Many thanks !!!! Tears and dream

[amirpaca]

Scriabin's soul must have found a part of itself in Sofronitsky. I have never heard such a recording, and probably will never hear another from another pianist. I need to find this albun, and other Sofronitsky recordings.

[LVB1770]

amirpaca, That makes total sense. Did you know Sofronitsky was married to Scriabin's daughter?

I recently met Sofronitsky grandson, who is also

Scriabin's great grandson who I have the privilege of studying piano with.

[paulostroff99]

amirpaca-Did you know that Scriabin's widow said that nobody played her husband's music better then Sofronitsky?

[LVB1770]

paulostroff99, Yes I did. I have a connection with the Scriabin family. I know the Scriabin family and they live near me. Sofronitsky was their Grandfather. I am truly blessed to know

them. They are such wonderful people! I can't send enough praise and admiration their way!

[paulostroff99]

LVB1770-I am so glad to hear this,as it makes me feel even closer to that brilliant musician. Best wishes.

[mishima1974]

I love Sofronitsky. Still, the second movement is a bit heavy. Scriabin was more delicate and elegant than that. Sofronitsky's conception in this recording sounds more like Prokofiev than Scriabin.

The first movement was beautiful, however.

[geddafan1]

fabulous Pianist!

[lovesGenet]

i always thought sofronitsky knew the master since he married one of he daughters. there r surprises fro anyone who grew up with Ponti recs.Hamelin ive not heard. Richter is the most energetic in Scry . AMAZING.Sofronitsky is something different .i thanks for posting this. He plays it so diferently than i like that I will have to keep coming toit to get an idea of what Sofr is aiming at.. Michelangeli would have fit this music to a tee.y did he not play S?

[ssternstern]

Does anyone have any other records to post?? Would be great

[ssternstern]

This is just amazing! This is surely the best Scrjabin I ever heard

[trevjr]

For those that don't know Sofronitsky married Scriabin's daughter. This is playing influenced directly from the master himself. Comparing this recording to a modern pianist and deciding that one is best doesn't make sense to me. We are talking here about someone who probably had Scriabin standing over his shoulder. There is a recording of Sofronitsky doing the first six or seven sonatas, this is as close as one will every get to Scriabin playing them himself.

[BreuschPagan]

Actually, Scriabin never heard Sofronitsky play. He died too young.

However, Scriabin's widow who was herself a concert pianist and a promoter of her husband's work (think Clara and Robert Schumann) did hear Sofronitsky, and declared him the only Scriabin interpreter in the world.

[trevjr]

Thanks for the correction, I have not read my Scriabin books for some time, maybe 20 years, so I have forgot some details. I do remember Scriabin's wife approving of Sofronitsky.

[uo12345678910]

amazing! this music is like magic ! you can't describe it...

[BreuschPagan]

Amazing. It is miraculous.

This is Scriabin caught on the wing. Sofronitsky didn't perform Scriabin. To say that would be a horrible injustice. Sofronitsky did something so beautiful and wonderful with Scriabin. He forced you to approach Scriabin in a completely new and novel fashion. It was as if he improvised in Scriabin's idiom. For a moment, you are convinced that he has become Scriabin.

[germaniwan]

sofronitzky and scriabin is like solomon and beethoven or horowitz and liszt, or richter and schumann:

no words! just listening!!

[sab3156]

When was this recording made?

[SureShotDC]

I can't belive that most of you miss the cryptic undercurrent in this (and many) Scriabin pieces. He fooled you all...

[simonemusic]

Tell us master!

[supersmashmike45]

the biggest pianist of all times

[emtube]

Thank you so much for posting this! Even though it is perhaps very unlikely we will ever see a film of dear Sofronitsky, I applaud your effort to present this wonderful performance by one of the absolute greatest of the Scriabinists, indeed one of the most inspired of Russian-Soviet pianists, period.

[smudgepots]

Superb, colossal - amazingly, there is a phenomenal EMI Andrei Gavrilov performance of this Sonata (with a great selection of Preludes) which is, if anything, even finer than this. I was lucky enough to catch Gavrilov performing this live in 1984 at the RFH and was left utterly speechless for 20 minutes. Playing of utter and complete genius - one woman was shaking her head and saying "You have to be mad to play like that."

[pno4tay]

I have to agree. I don't believe anyone has surpassed the Gavrilov recording of this sonata. It's hard to find nowadays but worth the effort. I believe this recording is included on his GPC set.

[garyokee]

@smudgepots - Well, unfortunately, Gavrilov did in fact "go mad" shortly after that date - intoxicated by Western adoration and affluence, Gavrilov descended into a pit of personal hell that he has never fully recovered from. I too, heard Gavrilov play a similar program at Carnegie Hall and he was magnificent.

[smudgepots]

@garyokee Thanks! Yes, so I gathered. Despite the assurances of Puchjok, his assistant here, I have seen no evidence that he is yet anywhere near reaching his previous best. Let's hope, gradually, he does.

[painkiller81692]

I have a couple of questions about the sonata. 1. I heard somehwere that this piece is erotic and i can't see how this person came to that conclusion and would like to know more about what mood the sonata is illustrating. 2. Are the chords at the end supposed to represent bell because i heard taht SCriabin was obsessed with chords that sounded like bells and I am a little curious. Any response would be appreciated. Thanks.

[emtube]

It is very difficult for people to have identical emotional reactions to the same music--might sound "erotic" to one, and "exuberant" to another, etc.

But, I recommend reading Faubion Bowers' biography of Scriabin, for insights into Scriabin's own intentions with his compositions. Pretty far-out stuff, sometimes.

[painkiller81692]

Wow, that was really enlightening(non-sarcastic). You do have a really good point. I read an article someone wrote about Scriabin and this sonata and he described it as erotic which kinda confused me. With your explanation it makes much more sense, thanks.

[apejan2002]

Absolute extatic. Absolute Scriabin...

Hope to see more of Vladimir Vladimirovich's recordings here!

[lucamadeus]

he was incredible, perhaps the greatest Scriabin's performer

[Pianowrestler]

You didn't understand much of Scriabin's style if you prefer Ashkenazy above Sofronitsky. The whimsicallness, capriciousness and ecstasy are all there in this recording.

For a very fine recording of the Concerto, try Stanislav Neuhaus/Dubrovsky.

[weikko79]

Apparently Feinberg's recording of the Concerto is the best. I haven't heard it, nor have I heard Stanislav Neuhaus. I've heard his father's (Heinrich Neuhaus') recording of it, which is very good, as well as that of Dmitri Bashkirov, which must be the best one I've heard yet.

[bitchass888]

beautiful

[spv88]

increible Sofronitsky

[scriabyn]

very good, good

[malcuzynski]

This is a very sensitive piece of work. I love the profile of Scriabin at the start of the second movement - the performance is wonderful, and the images are haunting, like the music.

[tranquilasadove]

This is wonderful.

[uo12345678910]

i like scriabin's music sooooooooooooooooooooo much!

[Alessandro1985]

I love sofronitsky's chopin

[VanoPitersky]

Take a look at Katsaris` videos on utube.Katsaris,Hamelin and a few others are definately worth the time,but Sofronitsky`s rubatos is an art lost forever.

[VanoPitersky]

The difference between Rachmaninov/Sofronitsky and today`s degenerate clowns prancing about the stage and assiduously shaking their heads on every downbeat is like the difference between humans and monkeys.

[daredash2005]

argh...if only there were some real qualities to the today's playing, it would so easy to forgive anything, including technical errors, although, since when the term 'technique' lost its rich and diverse meaning and became merely a primitive description of speed and clarity? sad topic it is.

[djehutymes]

@daredash2005 Aye, I agree. You speak the truth - unfortunately.

[twooffour]

@VanoPitersky

if anyone looks for biased hasty generalizations concerning "earlier" and "today's" musicians, look no further

here's another comparison in stage behavior - Liszt and Hamelin 

[Gargantupimp]

@twooffour Liszt is liszt, he could act anyway he wished, if sofronitsky went on stage and skipped around the piano with a dress on his piano playing would still be brilliant, hamelin on the other hand, is a tard "loek how fast i can play octaves derp" Might aswell just listen to a speed up player piano.

[twooffour]

Then you must be totally delirious about the frequent and often severe criticism Liszt received both for "being solely technical" (or writing lots of compositions without musical substance) and hamming up.

At any rate, if you seriously think all Hamelin does is play scales and octaves "fast" and is indistinguishable from player piano, I'm seriously struggling with words.

Look no further than his

1) HR2 cadenza for amazing, subtle dynamic control

2) HR10 for carefully executed rubato, or

[Gargantupimp]

@twooffour no shit liszt had brilliant technique, thats freaking great the more technique the better, and nothing wrong with flaunting it, but all hamelin has is technique, besides that hes a freaking musical moron, compare any of his recordings to any recording of sofronitsky, or hoffman, or horowitz and see how a master musician directs texture, detail, tone, and dynamic. there is no comparison.

[ewhguitarist]

@Gargantupimp I totally disagree with you on Hamelin, I think people like to slate him because they are envious of his phenomenal technique. Yet I think his recording of the Black Mass is sublime, he's capable of producing that mystic sound and also hold the architecture of these pieces together.

[twooffour]

@Gargantupimp

3) Gondoliera / Apparition no.1 for sheer aural beauty.

If still not sure, compare his Gondoliera to Berezovsky's.

[Gargantupimp]

@twooffour Go listen to rachmaninoff play hungarian rhapsody 2, then listen to hamelin that is if after rachmaninoff your quivering hands can even manage to type out his name on the keyboard

[Gargantupimp]

@twooffour oh yeah liszt compositions and arrangements are awesome, hamelins suck, and hamelin is a sloppy piano player who often loses the rythmic pulse of a piece

[barberjazz]

@VanoPitersky

This is, without a doubt, the worst comment I have ever seen. Sofronitsky's and Horowitz's interpretations of Scriabin were absolutely sublime, but that does not take away the power and performance of other interpretations. Simply limiting the music to some archaic and draconian set of characteristics is a disservice to the genius that composed it.

In short: grow up.

[Frederikamusic]

@VanoPitersky Are you refering to Lang Lang ?

[VanoPitersky]

Rachmaninov is my idol.He`ll have to answer to his Maker for not leaving a video and many more recordings.

[daredash2005]

i see a pattern that reveals the greatest modesty in the most gifted ones, as if their talent does not allow for arrogance. people might say rachmaninov was arrogant, but, in truth, he was superior to everyone else, and, yet, was quite direct in self-judgement. you don't find humility in contemporary performers, for sure.

[emtube]

In fact, it was not Rachmaninoff's decision. His recording company, RCA Victor, dictated what he could do and held him to a very strict contract. He offered to record a "history of the piano literature", but was refused, and was not even encouraged to record his complete works. Whenever he performed at symphony concerts that were to be broadcast, his performances were not aired, with his recordings on RCA being played instead. What a loss!

[VanoPitersky]

There is a silent video of Rachmaninov here on utube,smiling for a few seconds.

[daredash2005]

i saw the one you are talking about, and it is a small consolation in my dreams:) i have imagined him playing so many times that i almost see it!

[gwozdezzz]

@VanoPitersky please, give me the url of that video, I couldnt find it

[titusbeertsen]

@gwozdezzz watch?v=QB6-gT-dt18 More than 8 minutes of film! (put youtube's link in front of it, YT doesn't allow me to put it here)

[VanoPitersky]

After I clicked on this "video" literally shaking with excitement and realized this was just pics,I had a sinking feeling similar to that of Saddam falling thru the trapdoor:).

[daredash2005]

sorry, i will put "audio only" in the title. same here when i see something about rachmaninov:)

[VanoPitersky]

I don`t think a video exists.He hated and destroyed many of his audio recordings,I doubt he let a video of his survive.

[anafeya]

That's a shame.

[weikko79]

Well, certainly videos of Sofronitsky don't exist, since they weren't even invented back then, but I'd be surprised if footage of him didn't exist somewhere in Russia. Almost all of his recordings were salvaged from live tapes made at concerts, so one might expect that the concerts had been filmed at some point as well. The best place to ask would probably be the Scriabin museum in Moscow. Incidentally, I think this performance of the 4th Sonata is inferior only to Feinberg.

[VanoPitersky]

I expected a video,not pics.Please refrain from cruel jokes like this.

[daredash2005]

i understand your dissapointment, i love Sofronitsky, but you have agree that this site does not have anything on him, and i thought an audio would, at least, introduce others to his playing. if you happen to have a video, do post it, we will all appreciate it.