Piano Concerto (Scriabin)

The Piano Concerto in F minor, Op. 20, is an early work of the Russian composer Alexander Scriabin (1872–1915).

Written in 1896, when he was 24, it was his first work for orchestra and the only concerto he composed. Scriabin completed the concerto in only a few days in the fall of 1896, but did not finish the orchestration until the following May (and only after constant urging by his publisher and patron Mitrofan Belyayev). Belyayev paid the composer 600 rubles (roughly $10,000 in current USD); it premiered in October 1897 and was finally published in 1898.

Music The concerto is scored for 2 flutes and piccolo, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, timpani, strings, and solo piano.

The work consists of three movements, typically lasting about 28 minutes in total:

I. Allegro The main theme is introduced by the piano and then transferred to the orchestra while the piano accompanies in octaves.

II. Andante The second movement begins in the key of F major which was for Scriabin "a ‘bright blue’ mystic key". It is in the form of theme and variations. The orchestra introduces the theme. The piano enters with the first variation, accompanying the orchestra's theme with arpeggios. The second variation is faster, marked allegro scherzando. The third variation is a slow funeral march. The fourth variation is marked allegretto and features intricate ornamentation; the clarinet introduces the melody, and interweaves counterpoint with the soloist. The movement ends with return of the theme to the orchestra, almost identical to the first variation.

III. Allegro moderato This movement also develops material from the first movement. The first theme is condensed into the first two bars followed by a virtuosic arpeggio. A second, more lyrical theme then comes in A major before returning to the original F minor theme, which is soon developed vigorously. After a climax occurs where the first theme is presented yet again, the second theme comes back, this time in F major. After some short final thoughts, where there's a modulation to A minor, the key returns to F major for a brief, but triumphant and emphatic coda, ending in three loud F major chords.

Recordings PianistOrchestraConductorRecord CompanyYear of RecordingFormatHeinrich NeuhausAll-Union Radio OrchestraNikolai GolovanovRussian Disc1946CDSolomonPhilharmonia OrchestraIssay DobrowenEMI1949CDSamuil FeinbergUSSR State TV and Radio Symphony OrchestraAlexander GaukBrilliant Classics1950CDPaul Badura-SkodaWiener SymphonikerHenry SwobodaDeutsche Grammophon1951CDFriedrich WührerPro Musica Orchester WienHans SwarowskyVox Records1954VinylDmitri BashkirovUSSR State Radio OrchestraKiril KondrashinArtia Recording Corporation1960CDStanislav NeuhausUSSR Symphony OrchestraVictor DubrovskyMelodiya1965VinylGennady CherkasovMoscow Symphony OrchestraAlexei CherkasovMelodiyaVinylMichael PontiHamburg Symphony OrchestraHans DrewanzTurnabout1970CDVladimir AshkenazyLondon Philharmonic OrchestraLorin MaazelDecca1971CDIgor ZhukovEstonian State Symphony OrchestraNeeme JärviMelodiya1978VinylGarrick OhlssonCzech Philharmonic OrchestraLibor PešekSupraphon1987CDAbbott RuskinMIT Symphony OrchestraDavid EpsteinPantheon1987CDRoland PöntinenStockholm Philharmonic OrchestraLeif SegerstamBIS Records1989CDAleksey NasedkinUSSR State Symphony OrchestraEvgeny SvetlanovMelodiya1990CDAlexei GolovinMoscow Symphony OrchestraVladimir PonkinLe Chant du Monde1990CDNikolai DemidenkoBBC Symphony OrchestraAlexander LazarevHyperion Records1993CDGerhard OppitzFrankfurt Radio Symphony OrchestraDmitri KitaenkoRCA1993CDEvelyne DubourgSofia Philharmonic OrchestraNicholas UljanovTudor Records1993CDKarl-Andreas KollySymphony Orchestra BaselArmin JordanPan Classics1995CDElena KuznetsovaRussian State Symphony OrchestraIvan ShpillerTriton1995CDClaire DésertOrchestre philharmonique de StrasbourgTheodor GuschlbauerAria Music1995CDMee-Hyun AhnThe Moscow OrchestraMikael AvetisyanClassical Assembly1996CDEvgeni MikhailovState Symphony OrchestraVladimir PonkinVista Vera1996CDMichael PontiPhilharmonisches Orchester des Vogtland Theaters PlauenPaul TheissenDante1996CDKonstantin ScherbakovMoscow Symphony OrchestraIgor GolovchinNaxos Records1996CDArkady SevidovRussian Philharmonic OrchestraKonstantin KrimetsArte Nova1996CDPeter JablonskiDeutsches Symphonie-Orchester BerlinVladimir AshkenazyDecca1996CDAnatol UgorskiChicago Symphony OrchestraPierre BoulezDeutsche Grammophon1996CDViktoria PostnikovaResidentie Orchestra (The Hague)Gennady RozhdestvenskyChandos1998CDArtur PizarroNorth German Radio Philharmonic OrchestraMartyn BrabbinsCollins Classics1998CDRoger WoodwardSydney Symphony OrchestraEdo de WaartABC Classics1999CDClaudio CrismaniLondon Philharmonic OrchestraThomas SanderlingReal Sound2001CDAleksey NasedkinTchaikovsky Symphony OrchestraVladimir FedoseyevVista Vera2005CDAndrei KorobeinikovAcademic Symphony Orchestra of St. Petersburg PhilharmonyMikhail SnitkoOlympia Records2006CDNikita FitenkoRussian Philharmonic OrchestraMarlan CarlsonClassical Records2007CDPavlina DokovskaBulgarian National Radio OrchestraVladimir GhiaurovGega New2007CDOleg MarshevSouth Jutland Symphony OrchestraVladimir ZivaDanacord2008CDYevgeny SudbinBergen Philharmonic OrchestraAndrew LittonBIS Records2013SACDKirill GersteinOslo Philharmonic OrchestraVasily PetrenkoLawo Classics2017CDXiayin WangRoyal Scottish National OrchestraPeter OundjianChandos2018SACDDaniil TrifonovMariinsky OrchestraValery GergievDeutsche Grammophon2020CDJean-Philippe CollardBilkent Symphony OrchestraEmil TabakovLa Dolce Volta2021CDJulius AsalDanish National Symphony OrchestraFabio LuisiDeutsche Grammophon2025CD

References

External links Pianopedia, Alexander Scriabin, Piano Concerto in F-sharp minor