Alexander Scriabin - Piano Sonata No.3, Op.23 "Etats d'âme" (Sofronitsky, Gilels)

Alexander Scriabin (1871 - 1915)
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Piano Sonata No.3, Op.23 "Etats d'âme" (1898)
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Vladimir Sofronitsky (1901 - 1961)
Recorded in 1958
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Emil Gilels (1916 - 1985)
Recorded in 1984
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Sofronitsky
1.Drammàtico (0:00)
2.Allegretto (5:58)
3.Andante (8:18)
4.Presto con fuoco (12:53)
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Emil Gilels
1.Drammàtico (18:25)
2.Allegretto (25:11))
3.Andante (27:59)
4.Presto con fuoco (33:10)
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The Piano Sonata No. 3 in F-sharp minor, Op. 23, by Alexander Scriabin was composed between 1897 and 1898. The sonata consists of four movements, typically spanning 18 minutes in performance.
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Scriabin is said to have called the finished work "Gothic", evoking the impression of a ruined castle. Some years later however, he devised a different programme for this sonata entitled "States of the Soul":
Drammàtico - The soul, free and wild, thrown into the whirlpool of suffering and strife.
Allegretto - Apparent momentary and illusory respite; tired from suffering the soul wants to forget, wants to sing and flourish, in spite of everything.
But the light rhythm, the fragrant harmonies are just a cover through which gleams the restless and languishing soul.
Andante - A sea of feelings, tender and sorrowful: love, sorrow, vague desires, inexplicable thoughts, illusions of a delicate dream.
Presto con fuoco - From the depth of being rises the fearsome voice of creative man whose victorious song resounds triumphantly. But too weak yet to reach the acme he plunges, temporarily defeated, into the abyss of non-being.
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I. Drammàtico
The first movement is laid out in a conventional sonata form without repetition. The sonata opens with a dramatic first theme in F# minor, with measures 1 and 2 presenting the insistent rhythmic motifs which will pervade throughout that section.
Contrasting with the turbulent first section, the second theme in A major, is calm and marked cantabile. The beginning 6 bars present the first half of this section, whose initial descending motif will be reused throughout the movement. The second half, in a slightly more vivid tempo and marked poco scherzando, features imitative counterpoint in both hands.
The modulating development section, makes a return to the minor mode and uses the musical ideas presented in the exposition. At first there is an insistent superposition of the opening bars along with the descending idea of the second theme. At measure 77, the other half of the second theme makes its appearance along with the first theme.
After the musically unstable development, the recapitulation of the sonata form begins. The eight-bar first theme is stated again in the original key, although now modified so as to lead directly to the second theme. The second theme remains unchanged, now transposed to the home key of F# major.
The coda that follows can be subdivided in two parts. The first is a triumphant fortissimo statement of the descending motive of the second theme over the first theme. The second part is an exact transposition of the codetta of the exposition, which leads the whole movement to a calm end.
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II. Allegretto
In a similar way the constant repeats of the Baroque-like sixteenth-note triplets in the middle section of the Allegretto create the "state of gracefulness".
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III. Andante
A more Romantic idea is the use of cyclic form in linking the two last movements by a pianissimo memory of the Drammàtico theme, and in the Maestoso restatement of the Andante theme as the ecstatic climax of the finale.
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IV. Presto con fuoco
Like Wagner, the modernistic traits in Scriabin can be seen as a result of using more and more radical means to express Romantic ideas. The compression of the finale’s theme in its conclusive triple statement does not sound Romantic anymore.
After this ending one somehow expects to hear the "Drammàtico" opening of the first movement again. Scriabin has created a "cosmic cycle" by opening and concluding the sonata with a very similar energetic signal.
With the final appearance of the slow movement's theme at the end of the finale, Scriabin builds up anticipation of a grand ending in F-sharp major, and then frustrates our expectations, ending the work bleakly.
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Scriabin is one of the few composers from the Romantic era to have left a recorded legacy. He recorded this sonata before 1912 on piano rolls for Hupfeld-Phonola, a German maker of Player Pianos. This recording includes some deviations from the printed music.

[@emilyhutjes]

I love Scriabin. Thank you. 🌷🌷🌷(The Netherlands)

[@channel-ow5jz]

Thanks for no ads :)

[@ladivinafanatic]

I’m a fan of Gilels but when it comes to Scriabin, only 3 names come to my mind - Alexander Scriabin (though only piano rolls), Samuil Feinberg and Vladimir Sofronitsky.

[@aramzulumyan6380]

Feinberg is out of that large list :) Though I completely understand why u include him :)

[@ladivinafanatic]

@@aramzulumyan6380 What do you mean? In fact Feinberg is the best interpreter of many Scriabin works including 4th sonata.

[@michaeledwards1172]

I find Ruth Laredo the best Scriabin interpreter I've found, so I wonder why she isn't mentioned more often in the pantheon of Scriabin interpreters. She gives that pearly, moonlit effect when that is required, is terrifying in the loud, agitated parts, and she uses the sustaining pedal with the lavishness that I think Scriabin needs - and she plays Scriabin's complicated rhythms accurately. I don't know why it is, whether it's because of the complexity of Scriabin's rhythms, but so many performers seem to distort his rhythms, so that you can't even tell sometimes what the rhythm is meant to be. Those who do this include some who are generally regarded as great Scriabin interpreters. I don't know if it's because they're using a kind of rubato for expressive reasons or not, but I've always felt that (in general, for any composer) a little rubato goes a long way. (An example of distorted rhythms can be observed here in Sofronitsky, in the first movement, where he clips the dottted rhythms too harshly - makes it sound like the beat is divided into 6 notes instead of 4, and the dotted quavers get 5 of those notes and the semiquaver only 1. I really think this sounds best if played as Scriabin wrote it, though, with the dotted quavers getting three-quarters of the beat, and no more. But on the whole I quite like Sofronitsky, this aside - he uses the pedal well, too, which is not a given with some Scriabin performers who I feel don't use enough.)

[@ladivinafanatic]

@@michaeledwards1172 Laredo played with too strict rhythm. In Scriabin you need A LOT of rubato and don’t strictly count the rhythm printed on the score. Listen to Scriabin’s own recordings.

[@SCRIABINIST]

@@ladivinafanatic Exactly, Laredo lacked the flames and sensous liberation that Scriabin demands. I would add Horowitz to these great names.

[@cubycube9924]

The andante…