Valentina Rubcova

Scriabin's early Etudes op. 8 are at the heart of virtuoso piano repertoire, their methodical and pedagogical intent clearly visible. However, they are also 12 character pieces, revealing Scriabin's w...

Alexander Scriabin occupies a special position among the Russian piano composers around the turn of the 19th to the 20th century. Already in his early works, he went beyond the Chopinesque traditions...

Scriabin's third piano sonata is an early composition that was still fully written in the romantic tradition. For a long time it has been part of the core piano literature - and rightly so. In additio...

One of Scriabin’s best-known piano pieces is also one of his very first compositions. He wrote it when he was only fifteen years old; when it appeared in print in 1893, the twenty-one-year-old was sti...

In the years 2001-2014, G. Henle Publishers issued Urtext editions of the ten piano sonatas by Alexander Skriabin. The Skriabin specialist Valentina Rubcova from Moscow, the editor of these ten editio...

The piano does not lack for virtuoso showpieces. But this Etude in d-sharp minor from Scriabin's op. 8 definitely ranks among the highest in terms of popularity. A Horovitz concert without this explos...

The Eight Etudes op. 42 by Alexander Scriabin were composed during a phase of great productivity. For many years, teaching commitments had hampered the composer. Gradually, he was able to dispose of t...

The Eight Etudes op. 42 by Alexander Scriabin were composed during a phase of great productivity. For many years, teaching commitments had hampered the composer. Gradually, he was able to dispose of t...

In his last years, Skryabin realized a noble and great idea. Inspired by his study of theosophical writings, he dreamed of joining music, poetry, mime, architecture, light, colour and even aromas to c...

A work of transcendent beauty and rich programmatic allusions, Skrjabin's single-movement sixth Piano Sonata is a highly expressive product of the composer's final outburst of piano music. This editio...

Skrjabin called his seventh sonata 'White Mass', drawing attention to the mystical basis that is stamped on all his late works, including this one. He attempts here to translate into sound his ideal o...

Skrjabin's 9th Sonata is often referred to as the 'Black Mass'. Unlike the 7th Sonata, the so-called 'White Mass', this name did not stem from the composer. He writes: 'In the ninth sonata I came clos...

In summer 1891 Scriabin hurt his right hand through too much practice. For this reason he cultivated his playing with his left hand for which he composed his Prélude et Nocturne op. 9 in 1894. Both pi...

Scriabin's ideal of music as part of a synthesis of the arts, raising people to a higher level of consciousness, is particularly apparent in his late work 'Vers la flamme' op. 72. The poème opens with...

In 1891, the year before his final exam at the music conservatory, Alexander Scriabin injured his right hand due to his ambitious practising. This seriously jeopardized his career as a pianist and the...

Scriabin's two movement Piano Sonata no. 2 in g sharp minor was composed over a relatively lengthy period of time. He first began work on it in 1892, but in the summer of 1896, after Scriabin had perf...

Fingering: Michael Schneidt Scriabin's ten complete piano sonatas offer a fascinating insight into the Russian composer's stylistic development. While his first works still fully reflect the late-roma...

'A great poem for the piano' was how Scriabin described his fifth piano sonata. It was indeed composed at the same time as his great poem for orchestra 'Le Poème de l'extase', and both works are based...

'A great poem for the piano' was how Scriabin described his fifth piano sonata. It was indeed composed at the same time as his great poem for orchestra 'Le Poème de l'extase', and both works are based...

Scriabin's Tenth Sonata was composed at the same time as the two Sonatas Nos. 8 and 9 in winter 1912/13. It was probably finished at the latest in June 1913. According to Leonid Sabanejev's reminiscen...