Skrjabin (or whatever his name is supposed to be spelled like)

QuasiUnaFantasia

I do not know how to put this politely, because it will automatically offend Skrjabin, his fans, or those with ADHD, or all those and maybe more. But here goes. 😄

Is there a trick to "getting Skrjabin"? When I listen to his piano music (I have Lettberg's recordings of the complete works), I hear obvious Chopinesque sounds, but it's like Chopin with ADHD: whereas you always have the clear feeling that Chopin knows exactly where he is going, it always sounds as if Skrjabin just makes it up, as he goes along, with no clear objective at the outset.

Is it just a matter of spending (a lot) more time listening to his music, or must it be worked on at the piano, or does it require divine enlightenment to understand his music?

CyberGene

Very good questions!

As a relatively new Scriabin convert that comes from where you are now, I can provide some thoughts.

First, I see him spelled Scriabin everywhere.

Chopin used to be (and is probably still) my favorite composer. And throughout the years some people have recommended Scriabin to me as similar to Chopin but whenever I attempted listening to his music, I was put off. However, much later I discovered that his style changed drastically and went from a very Chopinesque to avant-garde and atonal. However the good thing is this change was very gradual and follows his opus numbers. So, he has roughly three periods:

Early: up to op.30
Middle: up to op.50
Late: after op.50

It's very important that you start with the early period and stay there "safely" until you feel the need to go next. I don't say I can listen everything but I have progressed through the early and most of the middle period and have even listened to his late period. Well, I'm not advocating his late music but there are some pieces there that I simply adore. But I can perfectly understand people who will be utterly disgusted by them 😀

Anyway, another thing I noticed with Scriabin is that many pieces that I love now and can't get enough of them, were kind of "going nowhere" on first listen. This is really odd and probably sounds like snobbery but I have never experienced anything like that with other composers. I can't describe why that is but it's a very interesting phenomenon that I have with all of his music.

Finally, it's an acquired taste in a way. Maybe it's not for everybody, as some people will prefer beer while others will love wine 😆

And shamelessly a bit of my own recordings of Scriabin so far, mostly early and middle period pieces.

Op.2, No.1 - This is the only piece by Scriabin that I liked and learned to play long before I started liking Scriabin (unfortunately I recorded it after I received my N1X and I haven't played piano for almost a month at that time and so it's not my best playing of this work and I have a few small mistakes 🙁 ):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ar0_gVBzGQ

Op.5, No.2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KaD0n6XJOXA

Op.9, No.1 for the left hand alone:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LnEI9BDPr40

Op.11, No.4:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qQa4LxP1dCU

Op.11, No.13:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-PFQ915Gf5s

Op.32, No.1 (maybe my favorite work by Scriabin):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_DTEM5At0M

Op.45, No.1:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3K8IxQe2EvQ

QuasiUnaFantasia

CyberGene Thank you for this detailed and thoughtful answer. I will keep those pivotal opus numbers in mind.

Your playing is beautiful, and listening to the first few numbers I do hear an overarching idea in them. Maybe I would characterize them as "dreamy", rather than as aimless. Still quite different from straight Chopin, however. The last two works seem to me to point the way towards Schoenberg's serialism, and they will take some getting used to.

MacMacMac

All that! From a self-trained pianist after a month-long absence!
I venture that I've been at the piano far, far longer than you ... and possess talent surely far less than half.