Classical Music | Piano Music

Recorded on 10/23/2007, uploaded on 01/14/2009

Musician's or Publisher's Notes

Sonata No.5 in F-sharp Major, Op. 53                  Alexander Scriabin

Born in the final quarter of the 19^th century and matured by the turn of the century, Scriabin witnessed the emancipation of the musical world at the beginning of the 20^th century. This work was composed in 1908 and published in 1913, the same year as Stravinsky's controversial premiere of Rite of Spring in Paris.

Differing from his first sonatas, this work offers a one-movement formal structure with a continuous character. According to Scriabin, each theme in the sonata is equivalent to an element in theosophy, and the work should be treated as a symphonic poem with recurring components. 

This sonata, just like Franz Liszt's B minor Sonata in the Romantic period, challenges the line between absolute music and programmatic music. Through an expression of ecstasy, a neurotic character, descriptive terminology, mysterious chords, and a theosophical sensibility, Scriabin reveals his internal world and the musical revolution of the first quarter of the 20^th century.     Ja-Sing Lin

Courtesy of International Music Foundation.