Alexander Scriabin - Piano Concerto in F sharp minor, Op. 20

- Composer: Alexander Nikolayevich Scriabin (6 January 1872 -- 27 April 1915) - Orchestra: Chicago Symphony Orchestra - Conductor: Pierre Boulez - Soloist: Anatol Ugorski - Year of recording: 1999 Piano Concerto in F sharp minor, Op. 20, written in 1896. 00:00 - I. Allegro 07:48 - II. Andante 16:30 - III. Allegro moderato This work was Scriabin’s only true concerto and his first work that involved the orchestra. At only 24 and needing a piano concerto to show off his abilities in concert, Scriabin was still using the idiom set forth by Chopin for his piano writing, and here he took on Chopin’s orchestral mannerisms, as well, although Scriabin’s orchestra takes a much more active and partner-like role than Chopin’s does in his concertos. Scriabin completed the concerto in only a few days in the fall of 1896, but didn’t finish the orchestration until the following May and did not premiere the work until 23 October 1897. - The opening Allegro does not go to the emotional extremes that Rachmaninov does, but