Scriabin Sonata No. 2 - Henrik Kilhamn Edition

PDF Score with marks and fingerings by Henrik Kilhamn.
Scriabin: Piano Sonata No. 2 in G# minor, "Sonata-Fantasy", Op. 19

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.

Scriabin: Piano Sonata No. 2 in G# minor, "Sonata-Fantasy", Op. 19

I. Andante
II. Presto

Underlying edition (in public domain): Muzgiz edition, 1947, editor: Konstantin Sorokin.

Note on the Composition

Scriabin’s second sonata, the “Sonata-Fantasy” Op. 19, is the most popular and more playable from a first reading than both the first and the third. Still, there are some spots where he puts very high demands on the performer that are in need of solutions one way or the other.

The first movement with its long lyrical sections with increasing accompaniment activity has many chords too big to hold in your hand, and in this edition I make suggestions throughout to either arpeggiate them and align top or bottom with the other hand, or more crudely to drop or redistribute some of the notes to another octave in order to keep the musical flow going without arpeggiation. For example the right hand chords in the closing group of the exposition and the recapitulation, as well as with the wide chords at the start of the development. There are also some less invasive suggestions of redistributing notes between the hands that makes it easier to feel free in the musical phrasing, for example starting with the second subject already on the first page.

The second movement has its pianistic challenges that you cannot do too much about! I have found that changing the first note in bar 4 from a B to an E makes it more manageable without really altering the music at all (as well as the equivalent bar 12). There are a lot of fingering suggestions here that fits my hands, and the occasional hand redistribution facilitation. There is a place early in the middle section of E-flat minor where I feel the music differently than notated: in a meter of four instead of three. I have marked this, which could be felt by the performer without actually impacting the resulting music for an audience more than philosophically. However, when the same material returns at the very end of the movement, my different feel gives the impulse to add two more beats to make it go out evenly in four instead of three, which I show in the score.

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.