Scriabin Fantasy Op. 28 - Henrik Kilhamn Edition

PDF Score with marks and fingerings by Henrik Kilhamn.
Scriabin: Fantasy in B minor, Op. 28

I have marked all my own pianistic solutions in the score after working with this repertoire for a long time.

• Fingerings
• Note redistributions
• Hands Over/Under coordination
• Some simplification suggestions
• Pedal markings only occasionally
• Preface with explanations included

This edition should NOT be confused with Simple Solutions Edition - Easy Arrangements for the Intermediate Pianist, which is entirely based on simplifying original compositions. The Henrik Kilhamn Edition comprises only added marks and fingerings on an original composition. A few minor simplification suggestions does not make this difficult composition suitable for intermediate pianists at all. They only serve as tactics for advanced pianists to be able to better retain musical accuracy, flow (tempo), clarity and/or sound balance when the compositional demands feel too high, but from an already high level of technical proficiency.

Underlying edition for this composition: M.P. Belaieff / C.G. Röder, 1901 (first edition)

Note on the Composition

Scriabin composed the magnificent Fantasy in B minor between his first and second symphony, and you can really feel the orchestral conception transferred to the piano here. Everything comes in octaves to start with, often with even more chord notes at the same time or following in a textural pattern. Some of it only looks harder than it is: where he has written out all voices even when they overlap on the same note you simply need to play it one time. But a lot of it is exactly as hard as it looks, or worse! To manage this I have gone through some sections with quite extensive suggestions of dropping notes in order to retain the musical flow instead of the excess of inner voices Scriabin demands. Perhaps most notably in the closing group both times on pages 6 and 11, and the start of the coda on page 12.

Another issue is the iconic left hand octave upbeats in the first part of the exposition, which soon become very awkward to play with the long jumps that follow. Scriabin wants to have the cake and eat it too; it’s simply not possible to have a strong and quick upbeat in the bass when the beat follows three octaves higher. Instead, I have opted to treat the last note of the previous left hand statement, which is always the same note, as the tied over upbeat as well.

A final section worth mentioning is the continuation of the return of the second subject on page 9-10 with left hand arpeggios spanning almost the full keyboard. Here a simple help of the right hand to play the top notes goes a long way, sometimes providing valuable time for the left hand to rest a few milliseconds, but even so I have scraped off a few more notes in the name of playability. Unfortunately, this does not mean much for learning it; a lot of practice time is still needed to get the movements fully automated.

Sonata Secrets Analysis:

Henrik Kilhamn Edition

This edition series is the result of me working with difficult repertoire at concert performance level for a long time and having to find the best strategies for my own hands to play the incredible music in front of me. Fundamentally, this is something every pianist at an advanced level has to go through to get to know how their hands work. Not just size and grip range, but how it feels in different musical circumstances, what is an acceptable strain on the hand and what isn’t. The fingerings and marks in this edition are what feels best for my hands, and it is no guarantee that they will do so for other pianists. However, they feel like good solutions in general, all emanating from an ideal of efficiency and organicism of hand movement.

Concretely, there are two types of suggestions. One is completely on top of the compositional layer, accepting the score as it is and only adding instructions for the performer: fingerings, note redistributions, hands over/under coordination, pedal markings etc.

The other comes into play when the compositional demands on the performer are above either what is possible for any pianist to play (e.g. impossibly large chords), or just my personal level of technique, and it feels like I would never be able to play it right in concert. This is where you’ll see some notes crossed out, or the occasional rearranging of voices. They are my solutions that makes it possible to retain a higher degree of accuracy, musical flow (tempo), clarity or sound balance, where I feel that I cannot achieve that with what's written. They are compromises in their nature, but I have obviously tried to keep as much of the musical material as possible, and they are always my best alternatives after trying many different options. Also, they often come in close connection with a fingering suggestion, as one “package” of a solution. Here you might hear a voice in your head of some professor screaming that this is never acceptable and you are a failure for even considering it, but I’m here to say that that is wrong. Every sane pianist does it, except perhaps the top layer of prodigy virtuosos who have not experienced struggling with technical limits the same way the rest of us have.

However, what feels like an optimal compromise in a situation is also subject to personal preference in addition to technique. The purpose of this edition then is to give my suggestions, which you are free to pick and choose among as you like. In fact, I strongly recommend using another score as your own and only look at my edition as a secondary source, and then write in which suggestions you like and leave those you don’t need.