Alexander Scriabin
Sonatas
About Alexander Scriabin's Sonatas
The first three of Scriabin’s ten published sonatas are in a Romantic style, reminiscent of Chopin and Liszt, but undoubtedly with Scriabin´s unique voice present from the beginning.
The brief Fourth Sonata marks an important transition for the composer: musically, he was moving ever closer toward atonality, while his personal life was marked by the deepening complexity of his theosophical ponderings.
Beginning with the fifth, Scriabin´s sonatas have no key signature and consist of only a single movement. The Seventh Sonata, Scriabin’s own favourite and nicknamed “The White Mass”, stands on the threshold of serialism.
With the ninth, so-called "Black Mass Sonata", Scriabin’s journey to his own particular brand of atonality is complete. The violence and menacing harmonies of this sonata, whose colourful subtitle is the composer´s own, are said to have shocked and frightened even the composer himself.
| Preview | Title | Key | Year | Level |
|---|---|---|---|---|
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Sonata 1 Op. 6 | F Minor | 1893 | 8+ |
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Sonata 2 (Sonate-Fantaisie) Op. 19 | G-sharp Minor | 1897 | 8+ |
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Sonata 3 Op. 23 | F-sharp Minor | 1897 | 8+ |
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Sonata 4 Op. 30 | F-sharp Major | 1903 | 8+ |
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Sonata 5 Op. 53 | N/A | 1907 | 8+ |
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Sonata 6 Op. 62 | N/A | 1912 | 8+ |
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Sonata 7 (White Mass) Op. 64 | N/A | 1912 | 8+ |
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Sonata 8 Op. 66 | N/A | 1913 | 8+ |
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Sonata 9 (Black Mass) Op. 68 | N/A | 1913 | 8+ |
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Sonata 10 Op. 70 | N/A | 1913 | 8+ |
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Sonata-fantaisie WoO 6 | G-sharp Minor | 1886 | 8+ |
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Piano Sonata WoO 19 | E-flat Minor | 1889 | 8+ |
Forum posts about the Sonatas by Alexander Scriabin
Scriabin Sonatas: Favorite and hardest? by liszt-and-the-galops
Between the 10 Scriabin Sonatas, which is your favorite and which do you think is hardest?...
How to learn Scriabin's Sonatas? by rtheunissen
Dear all, In my journey of discovering and learning music, I've never come across pieces that made me question if it's even possibl...
Scriabin: Suggestions by kc_gracie
Hello all, This may be a tad bit annoying, as I have asked this forum for suggestions for Liszt repertoire some time back. Regardless, I th...
difficulty of late Sctiabin? by pianoville
What are your thooughts on the late works by Scriabin such as the sonatas, vers la flamme or the preludes op. 74? Are any of those pieces wi...
Scriabin Sonatas by jy_
Recently been to the local music bookshop and saw a couple of editions Scriabin sonatas (which are *thankfully* not by Dover) : 1) Barenre...
Scriabin editions by kay3087
Which editions are best to purchase? I'm looking for Op. 6 Sonata 1 and Op. 30 Sonata 4. Don't say Henle Verlag, because they h...
Good recording of the scriabin sonatas? by evariste
Last Friday, I was lucky enough to see Sokolov play Scriabin's tenth sonata, it was a truly transcendental performance. The bass notes ...
best performance for each scriabin sonata? by Hodi
want to hear your opinions which performance is the best for each sonata? i have the hamelin set which is excellent and some richter recordi...
Scriabin is G-O-D ! by Hodi
HE WROTE THE BEST PIANO SONATAS! (After beethoven) the most gothic and atmopheric preludes he had dark romantic style and a total new tonali...
Scriabin sonatas/etudes by Hodi
i would like to know how would u rank the difficulty of scriabin sonatas (hardest, easiest) this topic was discussed a long time ago ( i did...
Favorite Scriabin Sonatas by arensky
Self explanatory; however, we could discuss the tonality of the later sonatas; sometimes they are titled with keys, for instance "Sonat...