The Complete Preludes and Etudes for Pianoforte Solo

Rating:
Summary: Some of the greatest late Romantic piano solo works
Review: Scriabin was a contemporary of Rachmaninoff, in fact, he studied under the same teacher. Like Rachmaninoff, he was a bridge composer between the late Romantic and the 20th Century period. He was far more modern, in fact, than Rachmaninoff, though his early works were profoundly influenced by Chopin (Rachmaninoff less so--he was influenced by Chopin but also Tchaikovsky.)

Despite the fact both composers shared Russian heritage and a love of the piano, Rachmaninoff did not admire Scriabin's works, saying he had gone off in a wrong direction. While I love Rachmaninoff's piano works intensely, I have to say that he was really wrong about Scriabin. This is some of the most gorgeous, introspective, Impressionist piano music ever written.

Scriabin had a tragically short life, yet he composed quite a number of etudes, preludes, sonatas and other short piano works. Dover has done a huge favor by putting all the preludes and etudes into a single volume. There is enough material here for years of exploration into the music of a piano master. The edition is a compact volume that manages to sit well on the piano music stand, and the music print is clear and easy to read.