Alexander Scriabin - 8 Etudes, Op.42 (Sofronitsky)

Alexander Scriabin (1870 - 1915)
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8 Etudes, Op.42 (1903)
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Vladimir Sofronitsky (1901 - 1961)
Various recording dates

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8 Etudes, Op.42 is a set of etudes composed for solo piano in 1903 by Alexander Scriabin.

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The Etudes of Op.42 are firmly rooted in tonality but frequently carry chromaticism and metrical complexity to extremes.

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1.Presto in Db major (0:00)

No.1 pulsates with an intricate cross-rhythm, a dance of nine against five. Moreover, the melodic patterns in the right hand span the bar lines, deliberately forming irregular units of 3, 4, 5, and 6 (later on, 5 and 4). The result is a sensation of exhilarating flight, characterized by speed, nimbleness, mobility, and an unceasing, fluid motion.

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2.Moderato in F# minor (2:02)

No.2 delves into Scriabin's favored interplay of five against three, yet the left-hand figures here shift across the beats, akin to Op 8 No 7, creating an underlying sense of disquiet. This unease comes to the fore in the final bars when both hands, as Chopin once described in relation to the finale of his B flat minor Sonata, seem to 'chatter in unison.'

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3.Prestissimo in F# major (2:57)

No.3 serves as an exceptional study in trills, earning the fitting Russian nickname 'The Mosquito' due to its ethereal range and chromatic swiftness.

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4.Andante in F# major (3:41)

A lyrical love song, with a nocturne like accompaniment in the left hand. No.4 was perhaps written for Tatyana Schloezer, who at the time he had a love affair with.

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5.Affannato in C# minor (6:03)

In stark contrast, No.5, marked 'Affanato'—breathless and anxious, immerses the listener in a restless, dense texture and a harmonic palette where nearly every chord is shadowed and destabilized by the inclusion of a seventh. An aspiring second theme, one of Scriabin's most exquisite melodic inspirations, offers a brief respite from the clutches of this nightmarish grip.

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6.Esaltato in Db major (8:59)

Marked 'Esaltato'—'elated,' No.6 hints at Scriabin's Nietzschean ambitions. The melodies here exude imperiousness, and the underlying sense of elation is conveyed through ceaselessly swirling cross-rhythms, as well as a deliberate delay in reaching the tonic harmony for sixteen bars. This signals a growing tendency in Scriabin's music during his later phase, from 1911 onward, where tonality becomes a subtle background element, alluded to but rarely explicitly stated.

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7.Agitato in F minor (11:01)

No.7 employs Brahmsian sixths and rhythmic devices, appearing relatively conservative in comparison. This may well be the Étude referred to in a letter from the composer to his publisher Belaiev in 1899.

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8.Allegro in Eb major (11:50)

No.8 shares the ethereal quality of the first study, but here, both hands' figures shift across the beat, once more embracing cross-rhythms and creating a sensation of weightlessness, like a wind-borne flight. In contrast, the central section exudes grandiosity, reminiscent of Op.8 No.7 .

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8 Etudes, Op.42, are a testament to Scriabin's evolving style, which was moving away from traditional tonality and toward a more harmonically experimental and complex language.