The SCRIABIN SONATAS Reimagined, Part 2

• Classical Piano
• Contemporary
• Light Performance
• Stage Design + Effects
• Cinematoraphy
• Sound Production

Re-interpreting the Five Late Piano Sonatas by Alexander Scriabin with a fresh look on classical music from a contemporary angle: interlacing sound, color, movement, light, scent, and space.

In his later works, Alexander Scriabin incorporated into his compositions an expanding set of genres that involved sensations beyond the aural, such as light, color, movement, scent, touch, space. In this project the Intertwining Arts Team focuses on the intersubjective artistic interpretation, which multiplies and unfolds the first-person experience of an artist, and which was of special interest to Scriabin himself. We are presenting his Five Late Sonatas, which are paradigmatic of his late piano works. However, evident of his holistic approach, the score itself does not sufficiently indicate his artistic ideas. Therefore, the full extent of Scriabin’s artistic goals for his late sonatas must be gathered in additional sources. Scriabin's creative vision can then be fulfilled and reconstructed through the use of multiple art forms.

Through the intermedial combination we explore the emotional depths and the challenges of the Five Late Sonatas, ranging from bliss to estrangedness, from wickedness to radiant joy, as well as particular kinds of thoughts or imageries that would put the artists themselves into a specific headspace, which will in turn affect the interpersonal interpretational decision-making. These crossdisciplinary processes create fresh and unique links with the audience, enabling them to perceive the production from various angles, while leaving a profound multi-sensorial input.

Scriabin pointed out that “through music and color, with the aid of perfume, the human mind or soul can be lifted outside or above merely physical sensations into the region of purely abstract ecstasy and purely intellectual speculation.”

The goal of the Intertwining Arts Team was to conduct an artistic experiment for the Sonatas Nos. 6-10 and to focus extensively on incorporating Alexander Scriabin’s multidisciplinary ideas, conceptual directions, and imagery by the means of symbolism and expanding artistic interpretation from a solo piano recital to a crossdisciplinary performance, as well as creating the cinematic version of the project in two parts, in order to depict the process from all the possible angles — which means including not just the pure artistic product, but also capturing discussions, interviews, and tryouts.

We are extremely grateful for the support of the performance and film making to:

University of Music and Performing Arts Graz
Stadt Graz Kulturamt
Land Steiermark Kultur, Europa, Sport
ÖH — The Austrian National Student Union