Capturing Essence and Forming Interpretations: a comparison of recordings in late Scriabin sonatas
Late Scriabin’s music has always been a subject of polarising opinion: you either love him or hate him. That is why, apart from the Ninth Sonata, the rest of the late oeuvre is rarely performed (Kreiling, 2022, 309).
Researcher: Anson Wong
I am a firm believer in the music’s potential to captivate, and I am convinced that a truly compelling interpretation of these works will let more audiences understand them. In this project I compare selected recordings of Scriabin Sonatas (No 6 to No 10) which I consider to have contributed to my own interpretations of the works in the process of studying them, even including piano roll recordings by Scriabin himself.
Some musicians are strongly opposed to ‘studying recordings’ as they believe it will be a barrier to finding their own voices and ideas in the repertoire. I am of the opposite opinion: I believe we are standing on the shoulders of giants, and when we find something artistically valuable in old recordings, we should gather these ‘tools’ and internalise them as part of our own way of playing. Through wandering along old routes, we will find our own new path in understanding these elusive masterworks.
Bibliography:
Kreiling, James. “Scriabin’s Critical Reception: ‘Genius or Madman?’”. In Demystifying Scriabin, edited by Kenneth Smith and Vasilis Kallis. Boydell Press, 2022.
Image: Untitled (First Abstract Watercolour) (1913) by Wassily Kandinsky (1866-1944)