Scriabin: Prelude, Op. 11 No. 4 in E minor

This CD brings over twenty-five minutes of Sofronitsky's teaching of three of Scriabin’s pieces as well as performances of four Scriabin pieces, all recorded privately at his Moscow apartment in 1954. The lessons are meticulously indexed with carefully labelled translations in the booklet. There's also a selection of private and live recordings from 1947 and 1954 of works by Scriabin, Schumann, Liszt, Debussy and Mendelssohn.

WARNING: Although sonically challenged, these recordings have been available due to their profound historical significance. Also, the relatively extreme length [79.57] of this CD may cause reading problems in some early model players.

Although he wrote four symphonies and a small number of other orchestral works, the vast majority of Alexander Scriabin's (1872-1915) output was written for solo piano, and it is this aspect of his work that is presented on the two CDs in this set.

One of his early influences was the music of Chopin: the Piano Concerto that he wrote when he was just 24 years old is a perfect illustration of this. The effect of Chopin can also be detected in the early Preludes that begin the first CD.

It was during a six-year stay in western Europe, beginning in 1903, that his compositional style developed and became more individual and harmonically adventurous. The music that Scriabin wrote during the final five years of his life was all written for the piano and reflects his mature style, making his music some of the most advanced of the time. It was whilst on a visit to London in 1914 that Scriabin suffered a wound to his upper lip which eventually led to the blood poisoning from which he died a year later.

‘He played like a god – he looked like a god’ Heinrich Neuhaus

Vladimir Sofronitsky was born in St Petersburg in 1901, the youngest of 6 children. He studied in Warsaw with Anna Lebedeva-Getsevich, a pupil of Anton Rubinstein, and, on the recommendation of Glazunov, further studies with Alexander Michalowski.

Michalowski was a pupil of Moscheles, Reinecke and Tausig, so the Beethoven – Mendelssohn – Liszt line was seamless. Composition classes with Maximillian Steinberg (Rimsky’s son-in-law) followed as did a period of study with Leonid Nikolayev, who also taught Shostakovich. In 1917, Scriabin’s daughter Elena enrolled under Nikolayev, and she and Sofronitzky married in 1920 and moved to Paris, where their circle included members of the Scriabin family, Glazunov, Prokofiev (a good friend), Medtner and Cortot. In July 1945 he played for Stalin, Gromyko, President Truman and Churchill at the Potsdam Conference. His career revolved around concerts, recording and teaching, and his repertoire was broad – from Bach and Scarlatti, Clementi, Mozart, Beethoven and Schubert, to Chopin and Liszt, Schumann, a little late Brahms, a little Ravel and Debussy and Poulenc. Russian repertoire included Balakirev’s Islamey, and Tchikovsky’s Seasons and some Liadov. Scriabin reigns supreme (except the 7th Sonata ‘White Mass’ Sofronitzky was superstitious), Glazunov, Medtner, Prokofiev, Rachmaninov and Shostakovich also figure prominently. During the Cold War, he took a shine to Glenn Gould, and Van Cliburn, and Lazar Berman was a disciple.

‘I would proceed to the concert as if going on a blind date, anticipating something completely unknown, mysterious and wonderful, in other words, a miracle! He approached the piano and the magic began’ Stanislav Neuhaus, Recollections