Alexander Scriabin

Late Romantic · 1872–1915

Alexander Scriabin trained as a pianist at the Moscow Conservatory, where his small hands and ferocious practice habits once cost him an injury that nearly ended his playing career. His early piano pieces stay close to Chopin: short, songful, built for the instrument he knew best.

Then the music started to change. Scriabin became fascinated by mysticism and by the idea that sound, color, and light belonged together, and his later works float free of ordinary keys into a shimmering harmony all his own. Near the end of his life he sketched plans for a vast ceremonial work meant to be performed in the Himalayas. He never wrote it; he died in Moscow in 1915, in his early forties, from an infection.

Start with the 24 Preludes, op. 11 to meet the young Romantic, then try Le Poème de l'extase to hear where the mysticism took him.

84 works in the catalog, across 3 genres. Log what you listen to with Opus, the classical music journal for iPhone.

Keyboard

3 Pieces, op. 2
24 Preludes, op. 11
Piano Sonata no. 5, op. 53
2 Dances, op. 73
2 Impromptus, op. 10
2 Impromptus, op. 12
2 Impromptus, op. 14
2 Impromptus à la Mazur, op. 7
2 Mazurkas, op. 40
2 Nocturnes, op. 5
2 Pieces, op. 57
2 Pieces, op. 59
2 Poemes, op. 44
2 Poems, op. 32
2 Poèmes, op. 63
2 Poèmes, op. 71
2 Preludes, op. 27
2 Preludes, op. 67
3 Etudes, op. 65
3 Pieces, for piano, op. 52
3 Pieces, op. 45
3 Pieces, op. 49
3 Preludes, op. 35
4 Pieces, op. 51
4 Pieces, op. 56
4 Preludes, op. 22
4 Preludes, op. 31
4 Preludes, op. 33
4 Preludes, op. 37
4 Preludes, op. 39
4 Preludes, op. 48
5 Preludes, op. 15
5 Preludes, op. 16
5 Preludes, op. 74
6 Preludes, op. 13
7 Preludes, op. 17
8 Etudes, op. 42
9 Mazurkas, op. 25
10 Mazurkas, op. 3
12 Etudes, op. 8
Allegro appassionato, op. 4
Allegro de concert, op. 18
Etude in C sharp minor, op. 2 no. 1
Fantasie in B minor, op. 28
Fantasy for 2 Pianos in A minor
Feuillet d'album, op. 58
Mazurka in B minor
Mazurka in F
Piano Sonata in E flat minor
Piano Sonata no. 1 in F minor, op. 6
Piano Sonata no. 2 in G sharp minor, op. 19
Piano Sonata no. 3 in F sharp minor, op. 23, "Etats d'âme"
Piano Sonata no. 4 in F sharp major, op. 30
Piano Sonata no. 6 in G major, op. 62
Piano Sonata no. 7 in F sharp major, op. 64, "White Mass"
Piano Sonata no. 8 in A major, op. 66
Piano Sonata no. 9 in F, op. 68, "Black Mass"
Piano Sonata no. 10 in C, op. 70, "Trill"
Polonaise in B flat minor, op. 21
Poème, op. 69
Poème-nocturne, op. 61
Poème in D flat major, op. 41
Poème Satanique in C major, op. 36
Poème tragique in B flat major, op. 34
Prelude and Nocturne for left hand only, op. 9
Quasi-valse in F major, op. 47
Scherzo, op. 46
Scherzo Op.67
Sonata-fantasie in G minor
Valse in A flat major, op. 38
Valse in F minor, op. 1
Vers la flamme, poème, op. 72
Waltz in D flat major
Waltz in G sharp minor

Orchestral

Le Poème de l'extase, op. 54 Symphonic poem
Piano Concerto in F sharp minor, op. 20
Prometheus: The Poem of Fire, op. 60 For piano, orchestra, optional choir and color organ
Symphony no. 3 in C minor, op. 43, "Divine Poem"
Rêverie in E major, op. 24
Symphonic Poem in D minor
Symphony no. 1 in E, op. 26
Symphony no. 2 in C minor, op. 29

Vocal

Mysterium, Prefatory Act
Romance, for voice and piano

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