I think I just done heard a color! - Scriabin's Etudes, Vers la Flamme, Sonata No. 5

I was not expecting these works at all upon first listening. I knew that Scriabin was disconnected from the aims of the Russian composers that immediately preceded him, but I was not expecting such a radical departure from the sounds of Russia, and the sounds of the Romantic period in general. The etudes seemed very cerebral in nature, which coincides with the amount of thinking Scriabin did, both about the piano world, and everything else that surrounded him. He describes his musical work as a kind of working towards a philosophy - of justifying a world view using the notes of his composition. And if that doesn't necessarily come across, at least the intensity of thought needed to do something like it does in his works.

I was especially fond of the Sonata, although I enjoyed Verse la Flamme as well. The sounds that Scriabin is penning throughout these works feel impressionistic to me rather than being the product of linear thought and progression. I am particularly satisfied with his employment of these sounds and textures in the sonata form, where he manages to make the work one cohesive unit, while still employing techniques that would have been new to the world at the time.