Piano Sonata No. 10 in C Major

Scriabin described his one-movement Tenth Piano Sonata, composed in 1913, as a “joyous, light and earthy evocation of the sounds of the forest”. Although darker elements are also present in the musical argument, for the most part a simpler, more radiant pose is explored here in comparison with the previous two sonatas. After a slow introduction, the main “Allegro” is propelled forward with increasingly jaunty dance rhythms and a dazzlingly brilliant sequence of trills, vibrating chords and quivering tremolos, all of which conjure up images of buzzing insects and insistent birdsong. A middle section moves inexorably towards an iridescent climax, a passage which according to the composer reflects “the suffocation one feels at the moment of ecstasy”. This ecstatic mood is carried through to the end of the work, though the tempo noticeably slackens at the close with the enigmatic return of the opening idea.