Prelude in C-sharp minor, Op. 11, No. 10 (Scriabin)

Alexander Scriabin's Prelude in C♯ minor, Op. 11, No. 10, is 20 bars long and takes under a minute-and-a-half to be played. It is marked at Andante. It has two sections of mysterious major seventh intervals and tritone harmonies, split up by a lyrical E major section. Like many of Scriabin's slower pieces, it is played very rubato.

Structural analysis

The first section is, as mentioned, very mysterious, as Scriabin employs many tritones and seventh intervals which do not fall into the key of C♯ minor. The first 8 bars feature modulations to D♯ minor and F♯ minor. The ninth bar, marked con anima, introduces an E major melody using more conventional harmonies, but the piece only delves yet again deeper into the depths of the mystery four bars later. Here, marked fortississimo, the initial melody comes out in full force using the broad tessitura scope of the piano.

At the seventeenth bar, the piece calms to quiet block chords of F♯ minor, C♯ minor-7, and B major-9 (without the bass B), finally resolving to an arpeggiated final C♯-minor chord, reminiscent of the ninth prelude immediately preceding this one. This shows Scriabin's ability to find commonality in his most diverse works.

Recordings

One of the critically acclaimed performances of this piece is that of Mikhail Pletnev on his disc Scriabin: 24 Preludes/Sonatas 4 & 10. Another is the 1956 recording by Vladimir Horowitz found the RCA/Victor issue "Horowitz Plays Scriabin."

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