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Hi everyone!

I've been working on this Scriabin Etude over the last few months and thought i'd record and share it here.

Hope you enjoy and keen to hear your insights!

Wonderful!
I've loved and struggled with this piece for a long time.

You handle all the difficulties almost unnoticeably. People who don't 'really really' know the piece might not realize all that you're achieving.

A few things:

Do you know what's the indicate dynamic at the opening?
(Don't worry, you've got lots of company. It seems most people who play the piece either have no idea or decide to ignore it.)

And besides that, I think you're misreading a couple of things.

-- The chord at 1:17.... it seems you're playing exactly what you intended, so I don't think it was a finger-stumble -- but the chord is wrong. I'm not sure exactly what the mis-read is, but I think it's that you're playing F# instead of double-sharp in the right hand.

-- Around the 2 minute mark, during that whole stretch you're playing the left hand figure as though it is continuing to be a triplet thing. Take a look -- it's not!

But I don't mean to get lost from the main thing -- which is that this is excellent.

Fabulous. Excellent control, impeccable technique (though I trust what Mark says, of course). I loved listening to you play this great work.

Hey Mark,
Great ears ! The RH chord at 1:17 is indeed misread, thanks for the pick-up, as annoying as it is!


Thanks SiFi

Very good fingers and you obviously have a feel for the music, Brandon!

I have to agree with Mark, though, about the left hand from measures 31 through 38.
The chords and octaves are written to be played DUM DUM DUM DUM ... corresponding to the first and fourth sixteenth notes that the right hand is playing. To me it's a somewhat ominous/foreboding sound

Yours sounds like dum DUM dum DUM dum DUM ... corresponding to the first and third notes in the right hand's group of sixteenths.

Similarly on the last page. There the rhythm moves back and forth between short LONG short LONG (eighth and dotted quarter) and the DUM DUM DUM DUM thing.

I've never played it as cleanly as you do, but when I hack at it every few years I particularly enjoy the two lyric portions. It's a great piece.

I've always enjoyed the comment about this étude in Harold Schonberg's "The Great Pianists" -

"Scriabin's murderous C sharp minor Etude (Op. 42, No. 5) gave him [Rachmaninoff during his student years] a bit of trouble.
'Difficult etude!' he told one of his classmates. I spent an hour on it.'"

(Yikes!)

Jane -- You nailed this:
(about those left hand chords being suddenly in a duple meter rather than the ongoing triple)


To me also that's exactly what it is too.
If Scriabin hadn't made that rhythmic change for that part, well, it would have been 'fine,' and probably we never would have thought a thing of it -- but this gives it that extra quality, and failing to observe it misses out on it.

Terrific playing! For my tastes(or maybe just what I'm used to hearing) the melody sometimes gets somewhat overpowered by the LH and/or RH configurations after the first statement of the theme.

I listened and greatly enjoyed your duet performance of Sabre Dance on your YT channel. Was that little cute thing at the very end of the piece your idea or do other performers also do it? It worked perfectly as one could tell from the audience's reaction.

I also enjoyed your "ancient" performance of Mozart's B flat major Sonata.

Great sound too. Mind divulging the recording setup, like mics & position?

Agree with comments about the left hand chords and such, but this is a great effort and very healthy tempo, better than I ever managed.

Very good! Bravo!

I would only wish if you had more rubato here and there and maybe a little more breathing between phrases, that is playing it in a more dramatic and exciting way, rather than like an etude.

Great sound too. Thanks for sharing.