Vladimir Sofronitsky's Scriabin

I don't know how to talk about Sofronitsky's Scriabin. Especially in any kind of technical sense -- I'll leave that to those who are musically trained.

I can only babble a bit, in a general way.

A certain quality of playing -- of musicality and sensibility -- occurs in Richter and Gilels. A quality of musical  understanding that is not ordinary. It's even more pronounced in Sofronitsky. That quality of playing, without being wayward, brings out aspects or spirits in the music that others simply can't seem to access.

Apparently, there is something unusual going on with certain Russian pianists. Something that has no analog in pianists from elsewhere. Certain Russians imbue their playing with a distinctive aural magic. They find a way to release the subtlest poetry latent in measures.

The word "poetry" is problematic here. That word can mean so many things. In the present context, I use it to mean aesthetic intensity and probing imagination. Certain Russian pianists delve and retrieve the unexpected, the otherwise unheard.

Sofronitsky's Scriabin is exemplary and nonpareil in this respect. Almost spooky.