Scriabin Piano Sonata No.9 Op.68 (Horowitz)

[somnynightin78]

hearing the original chromatic descending pattern in the original tempo at the end right after the craziness made me laugh.

[askylitdrivex]

I'm sorry Horowitz that your beautiful recording had to be almost completely ruined by some idiot coughing.. the WHOLE TIME

[DemonSlayer81]

Scriabin was ahead of his time, his compositions remind me of the impressionist style but he wrote this stuff in the romantic period

[mogyir]

It is so sick :D.

[Emanresu56]

Could hear some Vers la Flamme around 2 mins.

[chainedliberty]

This is a piece demonstrating the genius of Scriabin.

If Debussy were to paint something, he would be (most of the time) really specific about it. If it was Scriabin, he would simply throw a bunch of paint all over the wall and leave it alone for us to interpret and understand its beauty and meaning. Remarkably, all the interpretations that we have are different from each other.

[pianoboy321]

In my opinion I find this peice...well...frightening...i­n a sense that it captures it so nicely...its full of a feeling of doom and a foul, putrid stench of death...it paints it so vividly that is just absolutly a wonderful peice of art that no one can come close to. like most of his peices such as Desir, and a ton of his Poeme's they are so very dreamy and hypnotic...I absolutly love them...

[ilovemusiclarinet]

the fast part of the last part remember still to Chopin, I think

[ilovemusiclarinet]

He said that his music have demonic faces.

[pianoclouds]

@diekaiser7 You have a point there, perhaps I was wrong to say that the sonata is "atonal" because it certainly has a focus (as you have mentioned, the mystic chord). What I meant was that its style deviates from the traditional minor/major tonalities.

[UnScriptedFlix]

reminds me of "ritual fire dance" by De Falla, but that's just me :)

[diekaiser7]

@pianoclouds this is not atonal, Scriabin´s approach is more like debussy; looking for new sounds, effects and more, his musical philosophy is based on the "mysterious chord" that is a fourth-based chord insteed of the traditional third-based chord.

[MEpianist]

There's something very dark about this piece. No other composer can touch it, and they invariably try with various slamming dissonances. Scriabin is a master because he clearly has a genius harmonic language at work and he's developing it here.

[pianoclouds]

I was never really that big of a fan of atonal music. Then, I heard this piece and realized how much I had been missing out on.

The imagery in this composition is so disturbingly vivid and terrifying that it's...well, beautiful.

[vaseintibet]

mad son of a bitch..he is the craziest guy i ever heard..

[Jlan0151738]

STOP COUGHING!

[suitabledude]

this is crap, his early work was good...this atonal BS is indicative of nothing more than a man gone mad on drugs. music without melody is meaningless. i can just as well make all kinds of sounds using everyday things at random moments and call it "music" but just like this i'd be cheating all of you gullible types.

[iamthebirdman888]

@suitabledude nah, you couldn't

[iamthebirdman888]

@suitabledude nah, not like this you couldn't

[BrackenClelk]

@suitabledude Go ahead then. No one's going to be fooled.

There's more to atonal pieces than atonality. If you don't like the harmonies, listen for thematic development, texture, rhythm, structure... all of which abound in this piece. If you just want to hear major and minor chords with an occasional 7th, listen to pop music.

As for "music without melody", did you miss 2:06 (and all of its subsequent occurrences) or something?

[suitabledude]

@BrackenClelk You call that a melody? I call that (and it's supposed repeats) failed attempts at legitimate ideas. Structure? This has no structure. It has the facade of sctructure while affronting true creativity bound by legitimate constraints. For me at least, creativity isn't what you can do when you have no rules, or very little rules, but what you can accomplish while facing some sort of constraint. Similar to how life has come about given fundamental forces & constants.

[ewhguitarist]

@suitabledude Scriabin actually abides to sonata form fairly closely in this piece, there is a first and second subject and a fairly long development. The unusual thing about the structure is that there is no recap, only the last few bars of complete desolation. And there's motivic development throughout, so it's a testament to Scriabin's genius that you thought this piece had no structure or 'rules'

[Sveccha93]

@ewhguitarist right on. I love how people who don't prefer something have to also prove to themselves that it's because they are superior in some way, not just taste, then come out on places like this like some sort of narcissistic missionaries. It's like a prepubescent boy who still thinks girls have cooties handing out pamphlets to teenagers on how stupid kissing is...

[johnst66xx]

@suitabledude This sonata wasn't written for people whose musical ear is so poor they hear it as random notes.

[Sword1479]

@suitabledude You can't hear the melodies? I feel sorry for you; you're missing out.

[Nguli34689]

I can read scores and this is why I prefer to read the score as I listen to the video's audio visual music. This is fun. Thank you for posting this piece!!!

[hypermatrix000]

what a voluptuous descent at 3:01...

[firesoftheempyrean]

People who cough in concert halls should be recycled.

[observer6mm]

who here wants to play this piece? if only....

[openmindspace]

That Piu Vivo at the end Blew my mind. I dont think ive heard anything so Amazing.

[BrackenClelk]

Insane piece. Vivid portrayal of toxicity and infection: the triplet cell poisoning the piece.. the worm-like writhing at 1:11... the way the lyrical melody from 2:07 is slowly corrupted and raped by the evil in this Sonata. The Piu Vivo near the end reminds me of balls of maggots bursting from a corpse. Terrible terrible imagery.

Ugh, time to bleach my mind with some Mozart and Bach.

[suitabledude]

@BrackenClelk ...what i said above. this = crap.

[jaynogg]

Why did Russian music turn so crap after Scriabin died?! Literally apart from a few composers like him (e.g. Protopopov) and maybe Schnittke, there hasnt been anything of value....People will say Shostakovich but its not comparable to this!

[Martel211996]

@jaynogg erm. Rachmaninoff?

[jaynogg]

@Martel211996 I love Rachmaninov but its still not Scriabin!

[intervalkid]

@jaynogg

I certainly wouldn't call Prokofiev's violin concerto no 1 crap.

[jaynogg]

@intervalkid Its not crap its not as visionary as this! Scriabin was more radical than nearly anything that came afterwards; of course there was good music, its embedded in the soul of the Russian psyche, but cos of Stalinisation, creativity was supressed. I mean we have to admit, there have been very few (if any) Russian composers since Scriabin who were so far ahead of their time!

[intervalkid]

@jaynogg

Well he was definitely very innovative as was Wagner. But Wagner doesn't make Listz or Chopin or Shoenbergs early works crap by any means.

[jaynogg]

@intervalkid no of course not. I just judge a piece of music by 1) the quality of the music and 2) the originality of it too. We want crap music then John Adams and Thomas Ades fill that mould :-D

[morphicID]

@jaynogg Galina Ustvolskaya was actually very remarkable Russian composer. After Scriabin died - Stravinsky was still alive and Ustvolskaya was still to be born, so I do not see how Russian music all of sudden became a crap. You should also note that Russia itself was destroyed in 1917 (the transition from Russian Empire to USSR - did not preserve the "identity" - it was not a case of

"inheritance" at all.

[jaynogg]

@morphicID I never said it all of a sudden became crap. Just personal preference, I just havent heard anything as remarkable (in all senses of the word) since Scriabin. I'm sure theres great music still being produced, theres good and bad music everywhere. I'll check out Ustvolskaya now

[morphicID]

@jaynogg Hope you enjoyed at least parts of her works.

[chimayai]

A friend just recently turned me on to Scriabin's other Poemes besides "vers la flamme", and his sonatas as well. This sonata in particular is mercurial in tone, nuance and flow; thanks for posting it, and confirming that I need to include this piece in my standard rep.

[justin10292000]

Amazing, complex, passionate, disturbing, atmospheric music. Thank you, rmannion, for posting all these videos with the sheet music scrolling forward as the the music is played. Scriabin interpreted by one of his greatest interpreters, Vladimir Horowitz. What more could you ask for? :)

[SCordeliaB]

i like this peice alot

[dsm2240]

So often in Scriabin a third hand would be nice.

[Martel211996]

I truly feel bad for anyone in the audience that does not specialize in music. They must have not understood that this was even a sonata at all. I do however give the greatest respect to anyone that can understand this and appreciate its dark beauty. Having said that, i think its time that I invent a replay button on youtube.

[mrbrianmccarthy]

This is the best performance I've heard of this piece of Scriabins "Sonata #9"---I put quotes on that,because Idont think this is a Sonata!This is a Fantasia,or to use Scriabins terminology,a "Poem".Definitely my favorte of the 10" Sonatas" Horowitz does a very good job on this very complex and difficult piece.

[titusbeertsen]

This is such a masterpiece... Everytime I listen to it, I hear something new. The sheet music is very helpful by the way, it is much easier to follow what's going on in the music (when there's a development of the chromatic beginning theme for example). So you kinda know what to listen for.

[AzureFeather273]

8:01 sounds horrible...

[m4g1cmus1c]

@AzureFeather273 What do you mean?

[AzureFeather273]

@m4g1cmus1c I mean the melody causes a horrible, mysterious atmosphere

[orgelownzya]

I'm almost peeing myself, while I listen to this.

[Mr2sexy4you]

The person coughing needs to get out -.-

[filebarn]

This piece sounds like it describes a descent to hell. It is very demanding music. I can't think of anything else that conveys dread, mystery, and toxicity so well; thanks to Horowitz.

Absolutely a masterpiece.

[mordent17]

8:07 and on... so powerful. Thematic development is incredible, as oelefante said.

[johnnynoirman]

gorgeous piece of work...scriabin and horowitz..perfect combination.

[skenne8]

Interesting similarity to Gershwin's first prelude at 3:11

[jewish1972]

strange music, but beautiful

[oelefante]

No other sonata, by any composer, including scriabin himself, comes close to this one in terms of thematic development. Fucking brilliant

[TrueDiligence]

His music displays his self. Mirror image-like.

[TeeteringBulb]

This is pure magic.

I haven't heard anyone else convey this with such clarity without losing the ethereal sense of the piece.

I wish I could play this. :(

[larchmontmark]

Agree totally.......including that I wished I could play this.

And would you believe, after years and years of just wishing, I finally did. :-)

This was the recording that made me want to do it.

(I now have a video of mine on here.......it's not Horowitz, but then again what is?)

P.S. Does it bother anyone else that it says this piece is in "F major"? I don't think it's in ANYTHING......

[Lukecash12]

This piece seems like such a towering giant.

[floatingseeds]

so this was one of chick corea's main influences i can recognize some of the time warp tunes... amazing.

[hermspage]

Whoa really?

i totally didn't know that

[ggn1234]

@cctunes: interesting you should say that. For me, the 1953 recording is unmatchable. A complete grasp of the sonata, but distilled into a more compact form than this later performance.

[cctunes]

Horowitz owns this Sonata - especially this recording. The contrast between this and his 1953 recording is astounding. Such a grasp of the material this time.

[crimbo912]

The half-tragical half-mystical later works of Scriabine are so beautiful. I believe had Van Gogh lived a while longer he would have found comfort in these works. The two men seemed to want to connect their viewers and listeners with the heavens, that which controls the fate of all, a sort of launch into the empyrean.

[squishym]

I see this piece as a man' s resolve to push forward in the face of a life of misery. Nihilistic attitude dissolving into delusion at times and at other times, overcome by urgency.

[JUN0530]

音楽の山場に対する意識は、アシュケナージの方が上だなあ。美し­い演奏だけどね。

[scriabinwasmydad]

This has always been in my opinion the best recording of this work. I give Scriabin's 10th to Horowitz also; Sofronitsky could not bring the climax to an ecstatic world that Horowitz brought it to. This 9th is pure witchcraft under Vladimir's fingers; quite amazing!

[Brianjonestown]

Sofronitsky couldn't, but Richter could. His recording from the Warsaw concerts in the early 70s stands as the strongest for me. Straight off the page into our neuroses.

[Lukecash12]

The combination of motifs and themes at 7 mins is amazingly seamless. The end is admirably aggressive, and then becomes rather bipolar. This is probably the only wonderfully off kilter atonal sonata he wrote that was mainly just depressive. Every other is rather uplifting, incredibly symbolic of the complexity that is the human optimist. This sonata may very well represent the pessimist, although Scriabin may have seen it as rather satanic judging on his on opinions that are known.

[crimbo912]

you should also post the 1953 recording

[TheBlackPage1]

Scriabin is my favourite composer. There was nothing quite like this before, nor has there since been anything so blissful, erotic, mystical and exciting.

[Sveccha93]

@TheBlackPage1 you just gave me one blissful, mystical, exciting woody for Scriabin

[MichalGresl]

Good interpretation, but i prefere Hakon Austbo's interpretation....

[Test2Bear]

Scriabin's later work is definitely evocative. The man was a genius.

[Fallansig]

He was also ego maniacal and a bit crazy towards the end of his life. Hate to sound cliched, but I think he had to lose his mind to compose like this.

[Lukecash12]

By ego maniacal, you mean his messianic ideals and that some see his musical theory as pretentious, and unique only for the sake of being unique. I definitely don't agree, and really don't stand at much of a position to judge him for his thoughts regarding to his place in everything. Crazy either means unable to socially function, or disillutionate, and scriabin was neither;He was just a fantastic composer, that's all we can speculate upon...

[EMPERORMIKI]

I don't think this music is crazy at all. It is very beautiful and very well written. Overall it is a gentle piece in my opinion.

[Lukecash12]

Thank you for posting this piece. It's very hard to find good pieces from this era of scriabin as it isn't very popular at all. Horowitz plays trhis very light and sweet on some parts. I like how many emotions there are in this song. Some are joyful, others inexplicably depressive, along with a sense of patience.