Vista Vera is a label based in Russia that draws its historical releases from the same mass of historical Russian radio tapes and/or Melodiya or MK-made studio recordings as do dozens of other Russian companies who trade in "historics." But they are committed to quality releases and have an IFPI certificate to prove it; they are not merely raiding the vaults and putting the results out in any old way, as others have done.
Vladimir Sofronitsky is one particular artist whose singular output has been rather roughly handled by the historical market; the defunct Italian company Dante, through its subsidiary Arlecchino, had at one point more than a dozen
Sofronitsky titles active, all in pretty terrible transfers. Vladimir Sofronitsky Plays Scriabin is Vista Vera's fourth
Sofronitsky release, and its second featuring his interpretations of
Scriabin, the composer whom
Sofronitsky valued most highly. Outside of the Sonatas No. 3 and No. 9 (The "Black Mass") and his Fantasie in B minor, Op. 28, all of these works are short and drawn from various recordings, easy to distinguish through their ambience and the condition of the piano employed. In his concert appearances,
Sofronitsky could not always count on a concert-grade instrument and was often obliged to perform on instruments with noisy hammer action that were slightly out of tune or of poor quality.