Description
A melody drifting free of the beat over almost motionless chords: this is the slow piece at the centre of the Five Preludes, Op. 16, composed in 1894-95. It is written in G-flat major, a key lying mostly on the black keys, and the softness Scriabin liked in it becomes the character of the piece.
In common time, the left hand uses nothing but quarter and half notes, laying down chords almost without moving. Over them the right moves in irregular groupings — fives, sixes — that refuse to fit the frame of the beat. The blurred sense of metre that marks the later Scriabin is already here.
The right-hand groupings sound more natural taken as a single arc than counted out and divided. The left hand is not marking time but setting a harmonic background, so its attack should stay unassertive. In this intermediate prelude the question is not speed but how soft a colour you can make.
Preludes by Scriabin, tracing a path from early Chopin influence toward his own distinctive mystical style.
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Sheet music provided by Mutopia Project
About the Composer
Alexander Scriabin (1872-1915)
Alexander Scriabin was a Russian composer and pianist from Moscow known for developing a highly personal musical world tied to mystical philosophy. His early works show the lyrical influence of Chopin, but he gradually moved away from traditional tonality toward his own distinctive harmonic system. This site includes 8 of his works, including an early etude and preludes from Op. 11 and Op. 16.
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