Richter plays Scriabin: Sonata no. 2, Op 19 (movement 1)

[UrbanVivaldi]

very different from his first sonata

[119Nausiem911]

@cocoonfabula no no, 0:00 -> 7:31 is the best part hands down! :D

[Shige85Allen]

It is very beautiful.

Melody from 6:32 is especially beautiful.

[thejeffmorrison]

Richter does a wonderful job interpreting this piece. The closing reminds me of Debussy's Arabesque No. 1 in the way it flows.

[luargambino]

Es imposible interpretar esta obra de arte mejor,se unen dos genios ¡Scriabin y Rischter ! Exquisita sonoridad de la mano de un feroz y autentico virtuosismo casi extinto en nuestros dias o bien en peligro de extincion.

[twgirl1]

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[newgeorge]

such a shame the piano is so out of tune!

[FilipBirve]

@newgeorge Doesn't sound out of tune to me.

[newgeorge]

@FilipBirve the top register. It's because he forces occasionally (in the FF's) and the piano cant quite cope and goes out of tune. It gets worse as the piece progresses. It often happens with Horowitz also.

[ArtsDesignJU]

i hope i can play this one day

[yingnay000]

@ArtsDesignJU keep working at it and it's one of the most gratifying pieces you can play!

[MertezAad]

This song is much more difficult to play than it sounds.

[concertviolinist]

excellent

[vaseintibet]

worst part 7:31

[allegramente5000]

there's an almost angry quality in Richter's playing but I love this performance.

I've heard all ten sonatas in one concert- -wow,what an event that was!

[titusbeertsen]

@allegramente5000 Wow, who did that and where? That would've been awesome to attend, an all-Scriabin recital!

[tweriovnzxclb]

Richter is great of course, but I also very much recommend HAMELIN.

[BrackenClelk]

Fantastic interpretation as usual from the great Richter, but I'd have to go to Kocyan for this piece. The latter captures the impressionistic mood far better.

[JanisRaderPiano]

Gorgeous! So wonderful to follow along with the sheet music! Thanks for posting.

[marmasiotis]

Thank you very much Pianoplayer002 for this beautiful moment of art

[douskara]

Great work with the score and how about the performance... Fantastic!!

[runescapeRP]

No, the best part is 0:0-7:31

[savethetrees433]

As a Scriabin-playing pianist, I really appreciate the extra time and effort you put into posting the corresponding sheet music for this piece in the video. Not only is this one of the best recordings of one of (in my opinion) the greatest pieces written for solo piano in the last 100 years, the music allows me to analyze the piece as it's being played and judge its difficulty and interpretation. Thanks a lot.

[Rainelfy]

beautiful music :)

[lllllllllll1llllllll]

Near the end of the song, it sounds like a river.

[araujomateus]

Hello, mursum151, I like your comment, thank you for correcting me, I was just trying to help violinistx100. In fact you are be right, but, helás, Debussy was influenced by Wagner (Demoiselle Élue, Rodrigue et Chimene for example). Who wasn't, by the way? Sibelius? But Scriabin's colour approach and language he used specially after his fourth sonata are based in French not German. That caused my distraction.

[violinistx100]

Can someone explain to me who Scriabin is? I've just found him.

[araujomateus]

Scriabin said of himself: I used to be a Chopinian, then a Debussynian and then Scriabinian. We just imagine where he could reach had him lived more than his 43 years.

[cmartmozzy]

@araujomateus

Exactly the same here- although I think the melancholic stylings of Beethoven might've been thrown in the mix in between Chopin and Debussy for me?

[mursum151]

Your quote of Scriabin's statement is partly wrong. According to Arthur Rubinstein, to whom that statement was directed at in a private discussion, the influence after Chopin was Wagner, not Debussy. I have never observed any traces of Debussy's influence on Scriabin's music either.

[titusbeertsen]

@mursum151 What about the 2nd movement of this Sonata? In the middle of it there's a part that very much reminds me of Debussy's "Jardins sous la pluie".

[mursum151]

@titusbeertsen to me that similarity sounds a pretty vague one. Based on a short passage (I'm not even sure which one) it is hard to draw any lines between these two composers. And yet Scriabin finished his 2nd sonata some 6 years before debussy composed "estampes" :>

[MJTTOMB]

@mursum151 I'd disagree. Both composers were heavily influenced by the French symbolist poets. While Debussy probably had no direct influence on Scriabin's work, both composers had very similar musical tendencies and their musical philosophies weren't far removed from each other.

Scriabin's Promethean scale is simply the whole tone scale with one of the pitches altered by a half step. They used similar harmonic languages and similar rhythmic figures. They're not as different as you may think.

[Gargantupimp]

@MJTTOMB Scriabin rapes Debussy in the pooper until sunrise

[Gargantupimp]

@MJTTOMB And that's my artistic opinion, you don't have to agree with what I say but you should defend to the death my right to say it

[MJTTOMB]

@Gargantupimp Not sure why you're getting defensive. I absolutey adore Scriabin. He's easily my favorite composer. But the similarities between the works of the two are pretty strong, and as I stated, they both aligned themselves with the artistic philosophies and principles of the Symbolist movement, so whether or not one inspired the other is not important, what's important is that they were both aiming for similar artistic goals.

[Gargantupimp]

@MJTTOMB Aye they do contain some similarities, but I don't know if I wuld say their artistic philosophies were aligned, can you give me a example

[hexatonico]

He was a russian composer from the beggining of the XX century, and in his later works he walked a different way from his contemporaries. He had several atonal passages, but his way was very personal, because he introduces chords over fours, and different develops in the matter of form, like a mosaic form, but very different from debussy. He also had sinestesia, a "dissease" that makes you see colours when you hear music. I suggest that you listen "promenade" for orchestra.

[COCOONFABULA]

3:38 -> 3:42 best part !!

[Pianoplayer002]

Actually the entire development section (3:21-4:40) in this interpretation is one of my favourite parts of any piece, ever.

[COCOONFABULA]

The whole piece is actually amazing ^^ Like the left hand in the measures 8-9-10... omg !

[Gargantupimp]

@Pianoplayer002 Sofronitsky is great at this, that particular development in his hands sounds like someone shooting flak cannons into the cloudy night, just cool in everyway.

[Vesivian]

@COCOONFABULA No my friend. 0:00 - 7:31 is the best part!

[COCOONFABULA]

@Vesivian hehe indeed you're right :)

[Lukecash12]

It's amazing that Scriabin could be prolific as a Romantic and an Avante Garde composer also. Just on those grounds, you can label him as unbelievable. This really is a great piece. And the best part of it is, I don't really have an opinion on who interprets this best; I'm really caught between Richter and Sofrinitsky.

[Rachmanomaniac]

This composition is why Scriabin is my favourite composer!

[skryabyn]

esp harmony at 3:24

[skryabyn]

i dont know if i am weird-sounding, but this peice makes me feel in love, walking by the sea with the moon playing on the water softly- a night to remember and cherish. It gives me the chills completely

[johnnynoirman]

you sound quite normal to me...i know what you mean about the chills..it's very wuthering heights like...like a grand poetic tragedy...remembering lost love ones...the sea watching ect.

[skryabyn]

mmm... wuthering heights; great comparison

[johnnynoirman]

thanks.

[bohusbogdan]

i`m preparing this sonata for my last year of highschool...it`s pretty hard but it`s stunning!

[Und1ne]

Nice! I'm preparing for his op 8 no 12 for senior year, last year... Haha

[gnolti]

Is it just me, or are there strong elements of Wagner in this piece? There certainly are in Scriabin's First Symphony.

[Lukecash12]

Scriabin was a big fan of Wagner, Chopin, Tchaikovsky, Brahms, and Beethoven. So he certainly learned from some of the best orchestrators.

[tarquin161234]

wow Scriabin's music is incredible. It's as if he's playing tetris with notes.

Rather than structure and harmony, Scriabin creates stories using infinate textures and forms, by complete mastery of an endless stream of notes of different shapes and power.

Truly an epic story, and for me what would represent some of the most fascinating and virtuosic creations.

[HelveteKeiser]

the tetris one was the best description of Scriabin's music I have ever heard!! :D:D

[kempff95]

truley masterpiece..............

richter plays this sonata with a beatifull cololors and with internal emmotion!

THE BEST RECORDING OF SONATA........

[lucamadeus]

an incredible masterpiece

[Aza1408]

this is simply beutiful :)

[visionfugitiva]

I cant believe how hard to play Scriabin can be!, I found it a lot heavier than many works of Liszt and Rachmaninoff, and the rythmic structure its amazing...thanks god for Scriabin!

[nnrit]

Exquisite!

[tweriovnzxclb]

"But Throughout his lifetime Rachmaninoff had many doubts about his compositional style and he was intimidated by the 'modern' composers, such as Scriabin. Scriabin liked Rachmaninoff as a person but he thought that his music was too 'cheezy', too romantic for his tastes." Interesting. Although I have a hard time believing that.

[vincecharus]

Richter is best. Perfect union of technique and emotions!!

[wateva2234]

love this piece!!

[Dumplingmaster]

was scriabin aware of Debussie's piano music when he wrote this sonata?or the other way round?i've never heard scriabin sound so 'impressionistic',fine sonata but played supremely well,many thanks

[BubbaFrench]

Oh, I think nothing to do with Debussy here... The aim of Scriabin's harmonics is other I guess

[fanofmus]

he is amazing genious.....

[Kalen1457]

This movement is like equivalent to Rachmaninoff's prelude op32 no.10 in B minor I think.

Both have that sad-yet beautiful sound.

[pureaKero]

I see what you mean... but I still prefer this piece

BTW, Scriabin hated Rachmaninoff's music! He insulted his music by calling it "boiled ham" (I know, weird... must be some russian thing).

[Chopinco]

im not quite sure if thats an insult :P but i know they both had the same teacher and knew eachother, as far as i know they were friends, correct me if im wrong pls =)

[davidbaker03]

when Scriabin died Rachmaninoff dedicated an entire concert if not an entire tour to only playing Scriabin music. his fans asked him to play his own, but he refused only playing the music of Scriabin.. I would say, if he respected Scriabin so much, I doubt Scriabin hated and insulter Rachmaninoff's music.

[pureaKero]

My teacher studied at the Moscow Conservatory for 8 years and she did her doctorate on Rachmaninoff's musical upbringing. These are all stories she found out while doing her research. Rachmaninoff and Scriabin were good friends. But Throughout his lifetime Rachmaninoff had many doubts about his compositional style and he was intimidated by the 'modern' composers, such as Scriabin. Scriabin liked Rachmaninoff as a person but he thought that his music was too 'cheezy', too romantic for his tastes.

[PropertyOfKish]

It's beautiful! I'd love to play like that!

[soami2u]

Unsurpassable....I cannot find the words to describe it...this is the most beautiful Scriabin I have ever heard, with the possible except of Sofronitsky's...the effortlessness with which Richter achieves all of this...seeing the score adds an interesting dimension

[Lukecash12]

ha, i can't believe i'm number 15,000... love this piece...

[Lukecash12]

very emotional...

[Lukecash12]

i cried.

[aryanpianist]

He played very good , that's all !

[churchlandsmuso4life]

You just have to listen to it once and you will love it. You can feel the magic in every single note played so beautifully by Sviatoslav Richter. Scriabin really was a unbelievably talented composer!

[Lukecash12]

I don't know if i'd ever use the word talent for such a beautiful thing. You can watch a 12 year old play something like this, and it wouldn't mean a thing to him. He'd profoundly enjoy it, but it won't mean as much to him. This sort of composing is love. It's the most effective form of communication.

[jewish1972]

you have to be matured & have lived a lot to be a performer of genious

[agt200]

Got nothing to say more than : it's pure, celeste, and magnific.... My favourite Sonata...

[Alessandro1985]

I love how you match up with the sheet music

[ezgi88igze]

love it..

[Yanira707]

increible. Sin palabras

[elmauro]

pairing the sheet music with the piece itself is a tremendous help and a great convenience. i know it must be a great deal of work, but i for one truly appreciate your efforts.

[suzettegm]

idem

[KogumaMischa]

Thank you sooo much for posting this!

This is just wonderful...

[chad410]

thankyo 4 this

[FranzLiszt]

Wunderfull

[Pianoplayer002]

Be sure to check out the second movement as well ;)

[bckm54]

WONDERFUL!! And THANK YOU for posting the sheet music too!

[Pianoplayer002]

I'm glad you appreciate it :) It can be quite tedious to cut down all those pages to 2-3 systems at a time, and then put it together with the music^^

[efanwoo]

@Pianoplayer002 by hand??

Kidding.

[rachm06]

one of the most beautiful music ever written

[truecrypt]

yes, and Scriabin had special place for this sonata in his heart. He worked on it much longer.... Check out Sofronitsky performance too. Both Richter and Sofronitsky are unsurassed in Scriabin... and also - another great Scriabin performer - Alexandr Iocheles. Not well known outside of Russia.

[asdfggbby]

the most beautiful scriabin i have heard