The piano music of Alexander Scriabin is usually divided into three stylistic periods, which are well-represented by the three piano sonatas and short pieces
Alexander Ghindin presents on his 2011 Naxos release. The fairly conventional, four-movement Piano Sonata No. 1 in F minor, Op. 6, is typical of Scriabin's first works, where he emulated the music of
Frédéric Chopin and composed in the established Romantic vein, though even here the complexity of Scriabin's rhythms and counterpoint already anticipates his later compositions. An intermediate impressionist phase is marked by the two-movement Piano Sonata No. 4 in F sharp major, Op. 30, which introduces new harmonies and a flexible tonality to his musical language to yield dreamlike and ecstatic effects. The final development of Scriabin's methodology is fully apparent in the single-movement Sonata No. 8, Op. 66, conspicuously without a key signature and practically atonal in its freely chromatic harmonies. The shorter pieces and tone poems can be identified within these three stages of growth by the proximity of their opus numbers to these sonatas, and though the sonatas are clearly major statements that display the full measure of Scriabin's thought, the miniatures retain the sonatas' atmosphere and lushness and present the music in brief forms that are easy to grasp.
Ghindin is a fine interpreter of Scriabin, and his readings bring out the passionate fires and the gloomy mists that swirl around these visionary pieces. Naxos' sound is clear and fully resonant, though the piano is not close-up and lacks presence.