ToneBase Scriabin Stage
I made a Scriabin video and thought, hey, why not make a place for us to share any of our Scriabin performances/works in progress? I wonder how many Scriabin fans we have here at ToneBase! (I know, this is a much smaller niche than the great ToneBase Bach Stage, haha.)
I especially love Scriabin’s earlier works, which have a lot of Chopin influence but which have a special magic to them, with frequently gorgeous melodies (and not just in the soprano), exotic harmonies, and sometimes deadly serious drama. His later works are also interesting and can be lovely, but they tend to be more disturbed and anxiety-inducing, to my ears at least.
To start, here are four of my favorite early Scriabin preludes. I added a little commentary to the video so you can see what I’m listening to (or thinking) while playing them.
https://youtu.be/m804aa5steE
I look forward to seeing what Scriabin pieces everyone here is playing!
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Here's Scriabin's Op. 11 No. 21 in Bb Major. It was a bit of a puzzle the first few times I listened to it, but after spending time with it I decided it was really beautiful. (Hope y'all have been well--I've been out traveling so I haven't been able to join in TWIs or challenges. This video I recorded some weeks ago and only just finished adding text and silly images...haha.)
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Marc M Beautiful playing and prelude! Looking forward to hear more from the list!
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Thank you, Sindre Skarelven !
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Marc M Really beautiful! As always, nice editing! Will have to look into CapCut as well.
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Vidhya Bashyam Thank you!
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Marc M Your playing is very beautiful and sensitive, Marc! And, as always, sound and editing are perfect. Thanks for sharing Scriabin music.
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Love this one so much! So glad you're posting again. We've missed you and hope you had a wonderful trip.
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Gail Starr Thanks! Actually, I’m still on the trip…will be here a week or two longer. It’s a monthlong trip to Asheville, NC, hiking in morning and remote working afternoons. I recorded the video a few weeks ago and only finished editing it recently. Glad you liked the prelude! :)
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Marc M So wonderful that you can work remotely! I could never do that in my old job.
May I ask what editing software you’re using? Your videos are SO much fun!
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Gail Starr Haha, glad you find them fun. I'm trying to strike the right balance between providing helpful (or funny) commentary/visuals and distracting too much from the music itself. If I ever overdo it you're welcome to say so, so I can know what to avoid in the future.
I'm using CapCut Desktop--it's pretty nifty!
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Marc M Marc M Super! I’ve only used CapCut on my phone and everything is so tiny that I get frustrated and never finish anything I start.
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Gail Starr Yeah, the CapCut phone app is pretty useless to me also. Desktop is the way to go!
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Thanks for setting up this area. Here is my recording of Etude Opus 8 No 8.
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I was a bit apprehensive about recording this one due to its difficulty, but I gave it a go anyway! Scriabin's etude Op. 8 No. 5 in E major. Constructive feedback is welcome! :)
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Marc M fabulous job! The leaps (and everything else) sound great. You must have worked super hard on this. Thank you for sharing
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Marc M This is lovely. I appreciate how detailed your notes are in the score. It helped me follow along in both an artistic and intellectual way. Well done!
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Thank you, Michelle R and Gail Starr! It could still use a bit more polish, but this is about as far I can take the piece for now...have to draw the line somewhere and move on, haha.
These ToneBase teachers have been assigning so many score markups that now I'm marking them up as a matter of course. I was worried the score would be too small to follow--next time I may try positioning things so that the score can be bigger.
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Marc M And I didn't even KNOW what a chromatic mediant was until Dominic's Schubert live stream yesterday... you're way advanced, Marc!
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Gail Starr
Shortly after he departed from ToneBase, Ben Laude did a TWI on Schubert, and he had us do a big harmonic analysis of a Schubert work. That’s when I learned about chromatic mediants. I still have lots to learn, though, as evidenced by the part where I gave up and wrote, “WUT is DIS??”
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Marc M Sounds great Marc! You look so relaxed playing too!
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Thank you, Vidhya Bashyam!
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Marc M
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I need to watch Ben’s video! I’m on my way to a chamber music weekend where I’ll be doing the Trout. Dominic gave me some handy pointers on the piece yesterday!
