Scriabin - Piano Sonatas - Vladimir Sofronitsky
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CD Details
Performer: SofronitskyComposer: Scriabin
Edition: Music CD
Audio: English (Unknown)
Format: Import
Running Time: 73 unknown-units
Published: 2001
Music Label: Classound
Music reviews of Scriabin - Piano Sonatas - Vladimir Sofronitsky
Music Review: Legitimate release or pirate copy?
Rating: 3 Stars
This is in some ways an infuriating release. The good part first: Vladimir Sofronitsky was/is the greatest interpreter of the piano music of Alexander Scriabin, and this CD contains some otherwise unavailable recordings (along with ones available in better transfers elsewhere). Musically, everything on this disc would be worth owning - the devil is in the details.
Track 1 offers an undated archive recording of the "Funeral March" from Piano Sonata No. 1 in acceptable (for lack of comparison!?) transfer quality (what sounds like wow and flutter here appears to be Scriabin's own old, notoriously untuneable Bechstein - my guess is, this was recorded at Scriabin Museum). If it has been issued on CD before, I've missed it. In hindsight, this one track may already be the raison d'être of the whole CD.
It shouldn't be, because tracks 2-5 (Piano Sonata No. 3 "Etats d'Âme") and 6-7 (Piano Sonata No. 4) stem from a memorable all-Scriabin recital Sofronitsky gave in Leningrad on January 30, 1952. Transfer appears to be from LP (given what appears to be groove noise, in addition to rather unnerving distortion, and comparatively minor wow and flutter), which makes me wonder if this can possibly be a legitimate release - after all, I have heard the whole of the recital broadcast on radio in superior sound quality (there from good analogue tape source material)! Unfortunately, this seems to be the only release in CD format containing any excerpts from the 1952 Leningrad recital, so I am at a loss to tell you what to do...
[Note there is at least one more (arguably even better - I like both) Sofronitsky recording of the 4th Sonata, live at the Small Hall of the Moscow Conservatoire, May 13, 1960, released as part of Philips's Great Pianists of the 20th Century set, and - including applause - on the Melodiya/BMG double CD containing the complete recital (search for "Russian Piano School Volume 2"); furthermore, there are at least three more of the 3rd Sonata, a 1946 studio recording (available as part of the Brilliant Classics box set, and in better transfer quality on Denon), the live performance from Moscow, June 8, 1958 (on Vista Vera, and again in better transfer quality on Denon), and, perhaps best of all in its combination of interpretation and sound quality, a later studio recording (available on Vista Vera, there claimed to be from 1961, and in better transfer quality as part of the aforementioned Philips GPOC set, there dated September 1958).]
Sonatas Nos. 5, 8 and 9 (the so-called "Black Mass") on tracks 8-10 are taken from the June 8, 1958, the so-called "Legendary Scriabin Recital" in Moscow (also available on Vista Vera or Denon, see above). Transfers again sound as if taken from vinyl.
Track 11, Sonata No. 10, although claimed to be a recording from "7.01.1961", sounds to me (apart from the fact that it appears again to have been taken from LP) exactly like the live performance from the recital at Moscow Conservatory on February 2, 1960 (available as part of the Brilliant Classics box set, or in superior transfer quality on a Denon double CD that contains the recital complete).
Five stars then for Scriabin and Sofronitsky, a question mark for (lack of) integrity and diligence (that the lengthy booklet notes are only available in Cyrillic/Russian is unfortunate, but it simply remains a mystery why it says "MONO/STEREO" on the back cover, to mention another detail), and a telephone joker for the otherwise unavailable material on tracks 1-7.
What else can one say? If the same material becomes available in new remasterings from the best available source material, I'll be the first to cue for a copy. But releases like this are maddening...
[UPDATE: In the meantime, the whole of the 30 January 1952 Scriabin recital has been transferred onto Vol. 15 in the ongoing Sofronitsky edition on Vista Vera - I haven't yet heard it, so cannot comment on either the source material nor remastering quality there.]
Greetings from Switzerland, David.
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Description of Scriabin - Piano Sonatas - Vladimir Sofronitsky
Sonata No.1 Sonata No.3 Op.23 F sharp major Dramatico Allegretto Andante Presto con Fuoco Sonata No.4 Op.30 F sharp major Andante Prestissimo volando Sonata No.5 Op.53 F sharp major Sonata No.8 Op.66 Sonata No.9 Op.68 Sonata No.10 Op.70Classical CDs
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