Classical artists blind comparison thread #8 (Scriabin: Etude in d-Sharp op. 8 #12)

Here is blind comparison no. 8. The work is the Etude in D-Sharp Minor, op. 8 no. 12, sometimes called "Patetico," by Alexander Scriabin. The files were losslessly compressed in FLAC. Borrowing and adapting Scott's language from thread no. 3:

Because the music is short, I've included 11 tracks, which total to less than 25 minutes. To ensure everyone has plenty of time to review them over two weekends, I'm giving about 10 days. The poll will close on Tuesday, May 1, at just after midnight US Eastern time. Given the rhythm of my days, however, I probably won't post results until that evening.

Protocols:

Please rank the recordings from 1 to 11 in order of preference.

Feel free to comment on any or all of the pieces.

I prefer that the votes and comments be sent to me via PM, which I will cut and paste to post after the poll closes. If you vote by PM, please post to the thread or vote in the poll to bump the thread up.

If you wish you may vote via direct post to the thread, but please use spoilers blinders, following this format but substituting square brackets for the curly braces: {spoiler} TEXT {/spoiler}.

Either way, please do not say anything that might give away the identities of the artists.

The files, in FLAC format, can be found here:

http://www.mediafire.com/?3mmy317rve19u

If I can get the appropriate account set up elsewhere, "click-n-play" links like those we have seen in most of the other threads may follow; if anyone else already having such an account wants to repost the files in that fashion, please go ahead with my gratitude. Anyone requiring .mp3 format files should please let me know, and I will see whether I can satisfactorily create them (never use them myself).

Thanks for participating, and enjoy! I look forward to everyone's opinions and insights.

Incidentally, for those who don't already know about it, there is a general classical music discussion thread, now in its 35th 1000-post iteration, that will also repay your attention. I'm not providing a link, as it will almost certainly have ticked over to iteration no. 36 by the time this thread has run its course, but if you do a forum search for "Classical Music Corner" it should come right up.

 

11 tracks! Thanks!

 

Files are downloaded

 

Good--I hope that means the hitches we've seen in prior threads don't recur. When I checked this morning, the files had already been downloaded three times, a promising start.

 

Files are downloaded

 

All's quiet here so far....

 

Files are downloaded.

 

After a couple huccups, files downloaded.

Score can be found here. Scroll down for No. 12

http://erato.uvt.nl/files/imglnks/usimg/7/77/IMSLP02936-Scriabin_-_Etude_Op.8_No.12.pdf

I would love to see the Russian text translated.

 

Here is a better copy of the music ...

http://www.sheetmusicfox.com/Scriabin/1.pdf

 

Using my 30+ year old university Russian, here goes:

Opus 8, Book 2

1) fp. in the autographed score
2) I'm not sure - it's something "according to the autographed score". I couldn't find a translation for the Russian word "aplikatura". Sounds like it may be applied or something. Member AntonK will know.
3) In the autographed score, the dynamic markings are quite different, namely:

 

Although I'm not familar with a lot of Scriabin's piano music, I know this piece well; a very effective and dramatic little concert piece. I tend to prefer Scriabin's later stuff (especially the sonatas) but I look forward to playing all 11 performances of this and trying to assess them when I have a bit of time. Kudos for an unusual and inspired choice!

 

Thanks for the kind words--I'm looking forward to your comments!

 

My ISP was down since Saturday (there is a reason Comcast was voted worst company in America three years running) and finally got them today from work.

Thanks.

 

It turns out Scriabin published two versions of No. 12. This one is the much lesser known second version, published a year after the first. Apparently, this was done to satisfy the wishes of a publisher who either wanted something slightly easier to play, or more likely, as an answer to the publisher's dislike of the wayward tonality of the original. In any case, since all 11 selections at hand play the other version, I feel free to offer a link to the alternate version here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=diq3quloYtg



.

 

Interesting! Thanks for the detective work.

 

I checked just after the preceding post, and, discounting apparent double download attempts, it appears that we've had 7 complete sets taken so far.

Anybody having problems with the FLAC files? I'm on an unexpected road trip, so I haven't gotten a chance to mess with .mp3s, but if anyone really needs them I can give it a try.

 

Make that 8 downloads.


I sampled each one and there are no problems with the flacs on my computer.

 

Thanks!

I just checked, and that appears to be where we still stand (8 downloads, that is). I'm guessing that no. 5 is proving fussier to retrieve than the others, as it shows several more downloads.

I haven't received any rankings yet, but I'm sure those will start to arrive in the fullness of time.

 

I've found something to like in all these versions. This will be difficult.

It's interesting how differently these pianists play the last two chords.

 

Just finished putting together a few biographical details about the performers. The first is--oh, gee, I guess you'll have to wait.

 

Just voted via PM.

I just re-listened to my choices top to bottom, and I must say it's a shame I had to rank some of those in the second half. I wouldn't blame anyone for ranking them higher. I truly admire the technical accomplishment it takes to play this piece, and while I enjoyed this listening experience, I felt guilty nit-picking these fine artists.

 

This is better if you actually want the score to start at the top of the page, just remember always to go (back) to page 40 (of 43) when playing each performance.

http://conquest.imslp.info/files/im...-PMLP07375-Scriabin--Etudes-Op8-Ed-Muzyka.pdf

 

Got it--our first set of votes. Thanks!

 

Well, that took a while to say the least - just submitted my votes via PM. And I thought George's last blind comparison was tough!

Getting a nasty virus which took me nearly half a hour to get rid of via system restore after attempting to download the first of the files didn't exactly help either (not that I blame drh of course, these things are pretty much random)...