# 100 Favorites: # 79



## JACE (Jul 18, 2014)

*Scriabin: Piano Sonatas 
Vladimir Ashkenazy (Decca)*










I've listened to many pianists play Scriabin's music, most notably Alexeev, Ashkenazy, Berman, Hamelin, Horowitz, Melnikov, Mustonen, Ogdon, and Sofronitsky. Despite many hours of listening, I feel that I'm only beginning to scratch the surface of Scriabin's sound-world. It's elusive music, very difficult to pin down. (I'm sure that's also part of its appeal.) Thus far, I've been drawn to Ashkenazy's Scriabin recordings more than any others. Here's what another commentator had to say about them:

"_Many here have mentioned Ashkenazy's recordings of the complete set and have done so with admiration. I concur. These are fine, rich, and most certainly authoritative readings that are informed not by speculation or fantasy -- elements that would have made them even better -- so much as they are by what Scriabin actually asks of his interpreter in the body of the scores themselves. Ashkenazy's performances are literal, yes, but hardly mechanical or dull; on the contrary, Ashkenazy reads this music much in the same way that one would read a book aloud, to wit, for sense and sensibility that makes a priority of musical narrative._"


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