The very first Scriabin I came across was his Piano Concerto in Fsharp minor - why on earth isn't it played more often?

Obviously I can't just jump in there and tackle that work, nor the Etude Op.8/12, at present under scrutiny on another thread and the sonatas ('Black Mass' included!) would probably terrify!

So where would be a good place to start?

I have looked at a few of the preludes, in that I've sightread/stumbled through them, but that was a couple of years ago, before I started to approach piano-playing with a little more discipline.

A shortlist of approachable works would be ideal.

I asked a similar question a year or 2 back and the recommendations came flowing in (op 12 I think, but I may be misremembering)
I tried them and then sort of put them aside again because I still don't get him as a composer. I've listened to D. Varsi on the other thread and am suitably impressed but I probably would have been, whatever she was playing.

Good luck with it.

Thanks mel2; I have since found and read through that whole thread. It was Op.11 rather than Op.12, in case you wanted to know.

Mad Tom suggested Op.33 and Op.35 as well as Op.11, citing No.21 especially, I believe.

I don't know whether his advice will have changed in these past couple of years; he seemed to be surfing off the back of a Scriabin epiphany at the time!

Back then I had only Grade 2 to my name and doubt that I then owned the Dover score containing the Preludes and Etudes, to which MT refers! I am now far more prepared.

Saying that, I have yet again to change my signature .... FIVE weeks until my Dip (do you suppose that sheep go through the same thought-processes?!)

One of my very favourite pieces.

A lot of the preludes are playable by ordinary pianists. Op. 11 just happens to be the most widely known, and happens to have more than its share of pieces that can be learned without having to sell your soul to the devil first. Most of the etudes are much more challenging, as are the sonatas.

Yes I had just had a Scriabin epiphany. I am still in awe of his achievements. His music is not all wonderful ... just most of it. The more you listen, the better it gets. But I can't play very much of it yet. Not so well that anyone would want to listen that is.

Yes, if you are taking your diploma you are more than ready.

His Trois Morceaux, Opus 2, are very approachable, particularly the second and third of the set (sight-readable, I'd say). I picked them up a few weeks ago and have only played through no.3 which is quite Chopinesque and much less harmonically adventurous than his later works.

I'd start with some of the Op 11 preludes, there are 24 and I played one of them at last weeks Forum event in Leeds

Given its key, can I assume that you are a fan of Scriabin's piano concerto?

I'll roll four dice then, to see with which one I should make a start!



Hang on .... that'll put paid to Nos 1-3 though! OK. I'll start with Nos 1, 2 & 3 and then roll the dice!

Nearly caught yourself out there with your own cleverness, didn't you?!

Yes indeed, a close-run thing! Of course I could buy two-dozen newly-laid eggs and assuming that all of them will eventually hatch, paint numbers on them and learn Op.11 pieces according to the order in which they do so!

Hmmm .... there must be an easier way ................. where's that pin?

Some of the Op 11 ones are quite easy, others are fiendish.
Try No 2, that the one I played in Leeds, its pretty straightforward.
Then 4 ,5, 9 and 10, 13, 15, 16 (parody of a funeral march!), 17, 21 and 22.
Then tackle the harder ones, No 3 is a good start. Then you will have learnt half of them.

Thanks f#m. With my Dip' in just five weeks I'm rather chomping at the bit, but I'll probably put them on hold until that's done. I don't know yet what programme I'll put forward for October's Prize Giving, but I had a Russian theme in mind and a few of these preludes would provide more than just putty inbetween longer pieces.

There is only one problem with this very logical approach. It will be ages before you get around to No. 11, which is by far the most beautiful of the Op. 11 Preludes. (IMNSHO!)

Looks like I'll need those dice after all then!

I ought to work out the probability of scoring 11 when rolling four dice! Anyone?

Come on. You can work that out:

a. How many ways can you add 4 numbers from the set (1,2,3,4,5,6) - duplicates permitted, to get 11.
b. How many different ways can you roll each set in a. with 4 dice
c. Add results from b.
d. Divide by 6x6x6x6


Or (if you want even odds for each Prelude) why not use a 12 sided dice, and use a coin flip to decide whether to interpret the result as 1-12 or 13-24?

Or you could use a coin and do TWO binary chops. (24 -> 12 -> 6) then use a regular cubic dice for the final selection.

Eggs ... grandmother ...

I was being rhetorical MT. It's the sort of problem that sends non-mathematicians into paroxysms of fear and dread - if that's etymologically possible. However, it is slightly more involved than a two-dice problem.

Sorry Grandma.

I know. I was just being deliberately silly.

By the way - I reckoned 8%