Alexandr Scriabin, Etude op 8 No 12

A visionary guy according to some, or an exquisitely maniacal according to others, the mystical Russian composer Alexandr Scriabin undertook at a mature stage of his life the task of creating a monumental multimedia work, "a grandiose religious synthesis of all the arts that would herald the birth of a new world." With this in mind, he wrote in his diary at some point in 1914, that he needed to live "as long as possible". Unfortunately, the ambitious project, called "Mystery", never came to fruition as Scriabin died the following year from septicemia caused by the bite of a miserable mosquito.

Alexandr Scriabin (1872 - 1915)

A composer with no diploma
Twenty years earlier, in 1892, after finishing his studies at the Moscow Conservatory, Alexander Nicolaievich Scriabin had shown signs of rebelliousness and independence by leaving the Conservatory without receiving his diploma due to a disagreement with his tutor, Anton Arenski, despite having obtained a gold medal at the graduation recital for his interpretation of Beethoven's sonata opus 109, an undeniable feat considering that the young pianist experienced difficulties in reaching more than an octave at the keyboard due to his small hands.

The Twelve Etudes of Opus 8
Not much later, in 1898, the Conservatory offered him a position as a piano teacher, a position Scriabin held until 1903. In the meantime, he decided to pursue a career as a concert pianist. To this end, he devoted himself to the creation of his own repertoire, and in a very short time, he produced the two impromptus of opus 7, from 1892, and the twelve Etudes of opus 8, from 1894. Although in the vein of similar works by Chopin and Liszt, the Etudes of Opus 8 show a high sophistication, foreshadowing the individual genius that the composer would later display in his later compositions.

In the rendition by the great Russian master Vladimir Horowitz, we present here the last and most popular of the series, Etude No. 12, which despite its short duration does not lag behind the most demanding of the aforementioned romantics.