– Composer: Alexander Nikolayevich Scriabin (6 January 1872 — 27 April 1915)
– Performer: Bernd Glemser
– Year of recording: 1997
Piano Sonata in E flat minor, WoO 19, written in 1889.
00:00 – I. Allegro appassionato
07:56 – II. Andante/Andantino
15:00 – III. Presto
Scriabin’s Sonata in E flat minor was written in 1889, the year in which Scriabin completed his studies at the Military Academy. The work, redolent of Chopin, was one of four early attempts at the form. It was not published until 1986, but the first movement provided material for the Allegro Appassionata, Op. 4, published in 1894. The surviving manuscripts have no tempo indications and the second movement appears to have been left unfinished.
– The forceful principal theme of the first movement emerges in the bass and the turbulence of the opening section is replaced by the relative tranquility of the secondary theme, in G flat major. This is duly developed before a chordal passage leads to a recapitulation.
– There is a vestigial link to the second movement, two descending octaves that may have been intended for further elaboration. The B major slow movement has a G sharp minor second subject that is very much akin to Chopin and in the second half of the movement this returns in B minor.
– The energetic finale, again with a secondary theme in the style of Chopin, finds a place in its chordal coda for a reminiscence of the principal theme of the first movement.
