Cliburn 2013 Sean Chen Preliminary Recital I

I thought so too! It seemed to be a really fun time for him to play his own ornamentations on the first repeat!

Great piece ... never heard it.

Wow.....I thought it was amazing. Put on some nice headphones and listen to the complex rhythms and structure

I find Scriabin's music very musical, while i don't think so for banging random keys on the keyboard.
Maybe you just have to get more used to his writing style in order to apprecciate his melodies and phrasing.

Mauro Locatelli Sit down at the piano with the score and play it. Then tell me what you think.

David Gardner I did it and i confirm again my view.
For example consider the first 2/3 lines: i find very intelligent and well built the effect on the piano from lower notes to the upper ones.
For example, after the first forte notes there is a sudden ideal distancing of the subject that comes up with sforzatos combined exactly with a strong dissonance between the D# in the RH and E in the LH, don't you find this very clever? then the rush toward the upper register of the piano: it is structured in the same way for each octave of extension is passes through, giving the effect of a rush to enlightement.
This is only an attempt to describe the logic at the begininng, and the rest of the Sonata is even more interesting if you analyze it.
All Scriabin's music and most of contemporary music lives thanks to the logic that stands behind it, thus saying that is not possible to spot the difference between it and randomly banging the keys is only a symptom of ignorance about it...
Only because it doesn't have the sickly sweet melodies of Chopin it doesn't mean it can't be appreciated.
Well i find a lot of Scriabin's music more interesting that Chopin exacly for its complexity in the composing style and counterpoint.

+Mauro Locatelli +OrlandoNaida Iwriteyouwrite
I believe that the attitude towards music has shifted through the ages and indeed today you can appreciate even things that sound simply horrendous and random if they are constructed in a way that is clever enough.
People may ask: "Why is it important if the music is cleverly constructed, isn't music all about emotion? Is clever music, or any artwork all that we are aiming towards?"
I believe that you will agree with me that the cleverness in accomplished composers such as Scriabin is only a more complex manifestation of their desire for expression of emotion -"poetry" if you will borrow the term for music. There are little composers that I know of that compose music while being truly emotionally detached or that don't even strive to express emotion in their music.
So, the point I'm trying to make is that the analysis of the work of art in itself changes the way you view it, making it more emotional and intense, or it may do the opposite and convince you that it is void and banal even if it sounds great.
You can use the massive power of your subjective brain to make a work of art beautiful if you can come closer to finding the logic behind it, even if it is not what the composer intened, I think that it's a wonderful thing that we can think and analyse works of art and make them meaningful to us - It's a truly powerful experience, greater than that of simply listening/viewing the work of art with our senses and enjoying it.