Alfor's Rarities

[alfor]

To fleubis, with compliments:

Rachmaninoff Oriental Sketch final fingering.pdf

To parag, with compliments:

Scriabin Etudes op.8 ed. Philipp.pdf

[fleubis]

Alfor, thanks for the wonderful Scriabin postings. While I am not the biggest fan of his sonatas, I do love his etudes and particularly this Op.8 set. It is great to have fingerings for Op.8 No.10, the one in 3rds and Op.8 No.6, the one in 6ths-- the two thorniest etudes in the set.

Aha! A very interesting and playable fingering for my beloved Rachmaninoff "Oriental Sketch" that you have given me and very welcome. It is wonderful to encounter someone who understands the subtleties I seek in this piece and helping me overcome the limitations of small hands through good fingering.

[parag]

Thank you Alfred... it is truly a treat to have this edition of the Op.8 Etudes.
Surprisingly the entire Philipp edition, except Band 1, is posted on IMSLP... I wonder why.
http://imslp.org/wiki/Ausgew%C3%A4hlte_Klavierwerke

Best regards,
Parag

[Jim Faston]

As requested by parag:

Scriabin 2 Etudes ed. Baylor.pdf

Scriabin 3 Etudes ed. Hirschfeld.pdf

Genuine Alfor scans! So easy on the eyes.

Note-wise I am hard pressed to see any differences between the scores common to both sets, but the pedaling is markedly different and the Baylor version is less visually cramped--which my tired old eyes welcome. The autograph alternative of the original D# minor finale that Baylor presents is an interesting alternative to what we usually hear. It is hard to imagine such a bombastic piece having this somewhat quieter ending.

Thanks Alfor, I hadn't seen the quiet ending to the popular version of op8 no12 presented in that fashion--quite interesting. For those who haven't seen it before, here's a link to a Youtube video of the quite different second version of that etude. Score available on IMSLP.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGvYVy7ZyP4

[fleubis]

Thanks Jim for posting the link to the 2nd version - what a study in contrast!

[didi]

Alfor

BIG BIG thanks
for the fingerings of Scriabin op.8 etudes cycle,
which I personally rate the best ones after Chopin.

I agree with Fleubis that his Sonatas are perhaps not his best works.
His shorter works are generally better.

There is one charming little piece - op.17 no.6
which I personally like very much.

Can be found here:
http://www.piano.ru/scores/skriabin/skr-op.17.pdf

// Didi

Alfor, thanks for the wonderful Scriabin postings. While I am not the biggest fan of his sonatas, I do love his etudes and particularly this Op.8 set. It is great to have fingerings for Op.8 No.10, the one in 3rds and Op.8 No.6, the one in 6ths-- the two thorniest etudes in the set.

Aha! A very interesting and playable fingering for my beloved Rachmaninoff "Oriental Sketch" that you have given me and very welcome. It is wonderful to encounter someone who understands the subtleties I seek in this piece and helping me overcome the limitations of small hands through good fingering.

[alfor]

Thank you very much for every bit of feedback!!!

[isokani]

Nice to have the Phillip sonata editions again! I bought these ages ago when I was first learning the later sonatas (mid 80s) but despite being great editions, the binding was terrible and the books fell apart into lots of different bits ... some pages I think were irrevocably lost!

[fleubis]

For my two cents, I'll take the smaller Scriabin collections--the etudes and the preludes. When the mystic chord entered Scriabin's vocabulary, I find his music to be more remote and less accessible (but intellectually challenging). In the US, audience enthusiasm seems to diminish as tonality becomes more abstract. Fortunately, a good many of us don't give a damn about what the audience thinks and try to broaden perceptions. Having good editions to work with makes things a lot easier.

[alfor]

Nice to have the Phillip sonata editions again! I bought these ages ago when I was first learning the later sonatas (mid 80s) but despite being great editions, the binding was terrible and the books fell apart into lots of different bits ... some pages I think were irrevocably lost!

I bought a lot of sheet music in the former GDR - paper and binding quality was often terrible. Same with the notorious adhesive binding of Editio Musica Budapest . Surprisingly at least the binding of Soviet sheet music was fairly well (mainly either stapled or with thread stitching - I don't remember any adhesive binding).