Scriabin's 7th Piano Sonata is amongst the late sonatas Nos. 6-10, conceived as preliminary studies for a Gesamtkunstwerk of enormous proportions, the Mysterium. The mystic aura of the 7th Sonata is communicated to the player not least through the ecstatic performance directions contained in the autograph and the first edition. This and a great deal more can be seen in Scriabin's manuscript for the sonata, which Henle presents in a high-class facsimile in 2015, Scriabin Year. It is hard to believe how clearly and neatly the composer wrote this extremely complex music. The preface by the expert Valentina Rubcova provides an ideal guide for a journey of discovery through Scriabin's esoteric musical world.
