Lugansky - Scriabin Piano Sonata No. 2 - Sonata-Fantasy

Alexander Scriabin (1872-1915)
Piano Sonata No. 2 in G# minor (Sonata-Fantasy), Op. 19 (1892-1897)
Nikolai Lugansky, 2019
From Moscow Philharmonic Society

[0:00] I. Andante
[7:40] II. Presto

'...Just out of his teens and in the year of his graduation, Scriabin travelled to the Baltic coast and had his first unforgettable encounter with the sea. In a letter to his sweetheart he wrote:

“Everything glowed with magnificent majesty on the horizon. First a clear purple, then it turned rose-colored, and finally silvery flecks stained the surface of the sea…. The green of the sea blended with the blue reflection of the sky. There was such a play of colors and shades as I've never seen. It was a picture, a triumph of colors, a festival of truth.”

It was also the inspiration for his Second Sonata, though it would be another five years and several more oceanside trips before the fastidious composer would send a completed manuscript to his impatient publisher. In 1897 the Sonata was published with the title “Sonata-Fantaisie.” Scriabin provided his own description of the two-movement work:

“…the first movement represents the quiet of a southern night on the seashore; the development is the dark agitations of the deep, deep sea. The E-major middle section shows caressing moonlight coming after the first darkness of the night. The second movement, Presto, represents the vast expanse of ocean stormily agitated.”

In the color scheme Scriabin would devise later, the key of E major is a light cool blue.'

- Grant Hiroshima