Like Chopin, Scriabin made the piano the focus of his art. Among the
supreme achievements of that art are the ten sonatas he composed between
1892 and 1913, works that abundantly display both his technical
virtuosity and the exhilarating emotional gamut he ranged with such
individuality.
All ten of Scriabin's sonatas are reprinted here from the authoritative
Russian edition published in 1964. The first four reveal the influences
of the pianism of Chopin and Liszt. The subsequent sonatas richly
display Scriabin's emerging impressionist techniques and his deep
attraction to mysticism, which progressively conjured a more and more
ethereal framework of sound, now brooding and introspective, now
rhapsodic and exultant.
In both their technical requirements and their emotional demands, these
brilliant works will offer pianists a deeply satisfying challenge.
Nonpianists will also enjoy this finely made edition, with which they
may follow, music in hand, the growing number of loved and recorded
performances of these masterpieces.