Classical Music | Piano Music

Recorded on 05/16/2016, uploaded on 05/16/2016

Musician's or Publisher's Notes

I.     Allegro con fuoco
II.    Adagio
III.   Presto
IV.    Funèbre

This work was the third of twelve piano sonatas that Scriabin composed and was completed in 1892. The music is emotionally charged like much of his music after he damaged his right hand through excessive piano playing.

The sonata was Scriabin's personal cry against God: the tragedy of the loss of a virtuoso pianist to whimsical fate. The first movement, Allegro con fuoco, starts with a very dark and passionate opening theme and grows into a slightly more optimistic climax. There is a turbulent development section, followed by a recapitulation of the two main themes, in slightly varied form and with the modulations altered to bring the second theme back in F major. The second movement, in C minor, is a very sad Adagio in ternary form, ending quietly in C major. The third movement, Presto, in F minor again, is in a rather condensed and compact Rondo form. The movement is harsh and agitated, relieved briefly only by the more tender middle theme in A-flat major, and angrily hammers into an unresolved end, which is resolved in the final slow movement, the Funèbre, again in F minor, and similar in mood to the funeral march of Chopin's second piano sonata.     Notes by Calum MacDonald

Courtesy of International Music Foundation.