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Hello Fred,<br>
<br>
I can understand your initial reactions to the 5th. It is a very
aggressive and in many ways uncomfortable piece. It took me some
time to come to grips with it, but there is a sonata structure to be
heard and a truly amazing intensity at its high-point. In my
personal opinion, it's a bit strange that Gould did choose the most
violent of Scriabin's sonatas. Still it is, as far as I can tell,
the most often played of the 10 sonatas.<br>
<br>
It's important to understand that when Gould recorded the work there
was -- as far as I understand it -- no complete cycle recorded.
Unfortunately he seems to have lost interest in the proposed
complete sonata project, as with other romantic repertoire, after a
very short time. It would have been very interesting to hear him
play all the later sonatas.<br>
<br>
Regards,<br>
Jorgen<br>
<br>
<br>
<blockquote
cite="mid:98109E7CBA67724089DEEF5D627C9A2D12077555@SXOM-501.fg.rbc.com"
type="cite">
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<div dir="ltr" align="left"><span class="722012614-30012012"><font
color="#0000ff" face="Arial">GOOD Heavens, I seem to have
set the GG forest afire!!!! Well, my reaction to the
Scriabin was a first impression and what I was paying
attention to were the melodic elements, not the
structures. I've heard lots of Scriabin and find him
attractive, but this particular Sonata, on first encounter,
I found, now that I think of my initial metaphor, like a
forest devoid of all its leaves. Stark, blank and empty are
the first things that come to mind. To honor the strong
responses that my small post has elicited I will revisit the
sonata and give it another listen......</font></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" align="left"><span class="722012614-30012012"></span> </div>
<div dir="ltr" align="left"><span class="722012614-30012012"><font
color="#0000ff" face="Arial">I still lament GG's lack of
Debussy and Faure for that matter. I can only imagine how
he would have launched a frontal attack on some of Rach's
more treacherously ponderous technical moments.....</font></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" align="left"><span class="722012614-30012012"></span> </div>
<div dir="ltr" align="left"><span class="722012614-30012012"><font
color="#0000ff" face="Arial">Kind regards,</font></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" align="left"><span class="722012614-30012012"></span> </div>
<div dir="ltr" align="left"><span class="722012614-30012012"><font
color="#0000ff" face="Arial">Fred Houpt</font></span></div>
</blockquote>
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