Search - Alexander Scriabin, Vladimir Horowitz :: Horowitz Plays Scriabin

Still Unequaled

Hank Drake | Cleveland, OH United States | 03/26/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Sony's 2003 reissue contains all of the recordings Vladimir Horowitz made for Columbia Masterworks, 1962-1973. Included are a few performances of duplicate pieces, such as the ever popular Etude in D-sharp minor, Op. 8, No. 12.



Horowitz, who at the age of eleven met Scriabin, once described the composer's music as "super-sensuous, super-mysterious, super-romantic. It's all a little bit overboard." The pianist was ideally suited by temperament to play that Scriabin's highly charged, nervous music. Horowitz once described Scriabin's music as "super-sensuous, super-mysterious, super-romantic. It's all a little bit overboard." There have been numerous pianists who have equaled Horowitz's Scriabin technically (most notably Marc-Andre Hamelin) but none have captured the breathless, nervous quality of this music as has Horowitz.



Part of the success of Horowitz's Scriabin is his clarity, both musical and technical. The pianist adopts an almost structural approach to these works, which runs against the tendency by some others to slather them in Romantic excess. Horowitz uses less sustaining pedal than is customary in these works (as in the stunning Etude in Thirds, Op. 8, No. 10), although one would never think of calling Horowitz's Scriabin "dry." In the later more mystical works, he uses slightly more pedal, but never drowns the work in sustaining syrup as all too many pianists do. Even in Scriabin's most twisted melodic and pianistic contortions, clarity and balance are maintained. Horowitz also manages to produce a stunning fortissimo (as in Vers la Flamme) without hammering the piano to death or throwing the lines out of balance.



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An Excellent Collection Of Scriabin

Hamilton Carver | 11/15/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I think that Horowitz is able to perform, express and portray Scriabin's works much better than Chopin's works. Having said that, this CD has one of the best quality in terms of sound recording, than any of the other Horowitz recordings I've heard, I was really pleased with this.



I really wished Horowitz could have performed and recorded all of Scriabin's Sonatas with sound recording this good. I have listened to recordings by Richter and Sofronitsky, and found that although they did good with their interpretation of Scriabin, the sound quality on their CDs were crappy. With Scriabin's works, one must remember that it's all about the soundscape and nothing else, because Scriabin was to music what Van Gogh was to art.



The Sonata No.9 and No.10 were amazingly interpretted in this CD. Sonata No.10 especially, Horowitz managed to play this at a very leisurely and well-controlled pace. He also managed to show amazing dexterity by playing out all the trills completely and leisurely almost as if he was enjoying it. Trust me when I say that playing trills is very tiring on the fingers and hands. He made it sound so easy and didn't rush through the trills like some of the other pianists I've heard.



Listening to No.9 made my skin crawl, it's almost eerie and scary at the same time, perhaps not the same as Scriabin's Sonata No.6, but it had it eerie moments. Horowitz's tonality and ability to contrast loud and soft took my breath away.



Some of the other pieces in this CD were recorded in a studio and the same piece recorded again live in front of an audience. It is interesting to listen to the 2 versions, because he has played both of them slightly differently.



This CD is highly recommended for Scriabin addicts out there, mainly because having a good recording with a good pianist goes a long way when trying to appreciate Scriabin's music, which are monumental in terms of mood, color and sound."