Scriabins Temple

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

^ Nice translation.
As for Sonata 9, "This (fragrance) is synchronized with the music that repeats sorcerous melodies". Also, the term "maniac" in Japanese doesn't have a negative meaning. It just means like "non-compromising/perfectionist".
Isetan Shinjuku is a trendy, luxurious department store marketed to high-income clients. I have visited there numerous times as the area was my hood for drinking and walking. There used to be some nice, big record shops in the area as well.

The Scriabin-themed perfumes are very good/elegant idea. I want one!

[Mandryka]

This guy's good.

Joseph Villa is a new name for me - there's quite a bit of stuff, including some Chopin mazurkas and some Liszt. He is the real deal, no doubt about it, in his element in these Scriabin pieces. I hear something which makes me think of  Michelangeli at his best.

[Mandryka]

^ Nice translation.
As for Sonata 9, "This (fragrance) is synchronized with the music that repeats sorcerous melodies". Also, the term "maniac" in Japanese doesn't have a negative meaning. It just means like "non-compromising/perfectionist".
Isetan Shinjuku is a trendy, luxurious department store marketed to high-income clients. I have visited there numerous times as the area was my hood for drinking and walking. There used to be some nice, big record shops in the area as well.

The Scriabin-themed perfumes are very good/elegant idea. I want one!

Have a listen to some cardamom and lemon

https://archive.org/details/friends-of-recorded-music-28-29-scriabin-sonata-no10-op70-heyman

[vers la flamme]

@Mandryka and DBK, y'all are making me want to revisit some Scriabin. He was a favorite of mine from early on in my explorations of classical music, hence the GMG handle. But it's been quite a while since I've listened to his music.

The Scriabin pianists I listened to the most were all Russians of the older generation with direct ties to the composer: Vladimir Horowitz, Sviatoslav Richter and especially Vladimir Sofronitsky, who is such a genius in this repertoire. I ought to hear some Scriabin recordings from pianists of different backgrounds.

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

Have a listen to some cardamom and lemon

https://archive.org/details/friends-of-recorded-music-28-29-scriabin-sonata-no10-op70-heyman

Killer performance with velvet tone. Sick and dandy.

This guy's good.

Joseph Villa is a new name for me - there's quite a bit of stuff, including some Chopin mazurkas and some Liszt. He is the real deal, no doubt about it, in his element in these Scriabin pieces. I hear something which makes me think of  Michelangeli at his best.

Yes the guy is the real deal.

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

@Mandryka and DBK, y'all are making me want to revisit some Scriabin. He was a favorite of mine from early on in my explorations of classical music, hence the GMG handle. But it's been quite a while since I've listened to his music.

The Scriabin pianists I listened to the most were all Russians of the older generation with direct ties to the composer: Vladimir Horowitz, Sviatoslav Richter and especially Vladimir Sofronitsky, who is such a genius in this repertoire. I ought to hear some Scriabin recordings from pianists of different backgrounds.

Just for my personal preference, H and S play and sound hard. Just about my taste though.

[Mandryka]

How could anyone not love him to bits?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MueioLajS2E&ab_channel=arciduca31

[Mandryka]

@Mandryka and DBK, y'all are making me want to revisit some Scriabin. He was a favorite of mine from early on in my explorations of classical music, hence the GMG handle. But it's been quite a while since I've listened to his music.

The Scriabin pianists I listened to the most were all Russians of the older generation with direct ties to the composer: Vladimir Horowitz, Sviatoslav Richter and especially Vladimir Sofronitsky, who is such a genius in this repertoire. I ought to hear some Scriabin recordings from pianists of different backgrounds.

Sofronitsky didn't have direct ties to Scriabin as far as I know.

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

How could anyone not love him to bits?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MueioLajS2E&ab_channel=arciduca31

Sounds good. Also, just like everybody, I like Horowitz's famous Sonata no. 5 (CBS/SONY). Imho, surprisingly Richter's Sonata 5 sounds just average.
I like this old Soviet video of Viktoria Postnikova playing no. 5. So vivid and magical!

https://youtu.be/_bKaGmXjUtw

[vers la flamme]

Sofronitsky didn't have direct ties to Scriabin as far as I know.

Being married to the guy's daughter is about as direct of an indirect tie as I can think of 

[Mandryka]

Being married to the guy's daughter is about as direct of an indirect tie as I can think of 

I don't know why but when I read that it reminded me of someone I used to know when I was at university who was writing a doctorate on Coleridge and who was from the same family as William Wordsworth. He used to argue, quite seriously I think, that his indirect tie to Coleridge gave him a privileged understanding of the meaning of Coleridge's most enigmatic poems.

As far as I know Sofro never even clapped eyes on Scriabin.

[Mandryka]

This was heralded by someone I know as a sort of revolution in Scriabin performance.  The idea was that Rudy, unlike Horowitz and Sofronitsky etc - has found a more forward looking presentation of the music - a Scriabin who had ideas every bit as innovative as Schoenberg.


I think that's overstating things - but there may be something interesting going on in it, I'm not sure. I like Rudy very much in his Liszt transcriptions.

[vers la flamme]

I don't know why but when I read that it reminded me of someone I used to know when I was at university who was writing a doctorate on Coleridge and who was from the same family as William Wordsworth. He used to argue, quite seriously I think, that his indirect tie to Coleridge gave him a privileged understanding of the meaning of Coleridge's most enigmatic poems.

As far as I know Sofro never even clapped eyes on Scriabin.

I think it's a little different in this case, but I see your point. Sofronitsky married Ms. Scriabina a couple of years after her father died and, as far as I know, stayed married to her. Being that he became obsessed with Scriabin's music, I don't find it hard to believe that a husband may have occasionally had some pillow talk with his wife about her dad. Whether this yields any quantifiable advantage in musical interpretation is another question.

Edit: It was however a reach for me to say that Richter had direct ties to Scriabin, who died when Richter was a month old or so.

[Mandryka]

I think it's a little different in this case, but I see your point. Sofronitsky married Ms. Scriabina a couple of years after her father died and, as far as I know, stayed married to her. Being that he became obsessed with Scriabin's music, I don't find it hard to believe that a husband may have occasionally had some pillow talk with his wife about her dad. Whether this yields any quantifiable advantage in musical interpretation is another question.

Edit: It was however a reach for me to say that Richter had direct ties to Scriabin, who died when Richter was a month old or so.

See what you think of this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TYUtsBzJUKY&ab_channel=RdkM%E2%80%95ClassicalMusicArchive

[Mandryka]

Good Sonata 3 from Vitalij Margulis

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=VoTGCh_ws_Q


Good sonata 7 from Joseph Villa

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=tf8-d8Htgiw


Good sonata 5 from Alexander Kobrin

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=eHmPVoVBmcc


Very very very good sonata 10 from Kun Woo Paik

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=TYUtsBzJUKY

(The opening 5 seconds of sonata 5 must be one of the great pieces of timelessly modern music, like the last movement of Chopin's sonata 2. )

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

This was heralded by someone I know as a sort of revolution in Scriabin performance.  The idea was that Rudy, unlike Horowitz and Sofronitsky etc - has found a more forward looking presentation of the music - a Scriabin who had ideas every bit as innovative as Schoenberg.


I think that's overstating things - but there may be something interesting going on in it, I'm not sure. I like Rudy very much in his Liszt transcriptions.

Crisp and light, but not superficial. Nice change.

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

Good Sonata 2 from Vitalij Margulis

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=VoTGCh_ws_Q


Good sonata 7 from Joseph Villa

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=tf8-d8Htgiw


Good sonata 5 from Alexander Kobrin

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=eHmPVoVBmcc


Very very very good sonata 10 from Kun Woo Paik

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=TYUtsBzJUKY

(The opening 5 seconds of sonata 5 must be one of the great pieces of timelessly modern music, like the last movement of Chopin's sonata 2. )

Yes, the Paik sounds very good. Not a big fan of No.3 in general. Villa is always vg. For No. 5, I have a mixed feeling about the performance by Kobrin. I like the No. 5 below by Ammara.

https://youtu.be/1TnSoV9oO_8

[Mandryka]

Paik very good in 6 - at the end.

[Mandryka]

Listening to Paik play sonata 6 I got this strange feeling of déjà vu - and then I remembered what it was, Jean Pierre Collot's recording of the Barraqué Sonata and pieces by Sciarrino. Maybe it really is true that Scriabin is as much a herald of new music as Schoenberg.

[vers la flamme]

See what you think of this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TYUtsBzJUKY&ab_channel=RdkM%E2%80%95ClassicalMusicArchive

I like it!