Eight Etudes op. 42

The Eight Etudes op. 42 by Alexander Scriabin were composed during a phase of great productivity. For many years, teaching commitments had hampered the composer. Gradually, he was able to dispose of these tasks. Thus, from 1903 he finally had more time to compose, including, among other things, the Etudes op. 42. They are now available as a Henle Urtext edition, for which both the first edition as well as the variants of the edition published after Scriabin’s death by his friend and colleague Nikolai Zhilyayev were carefully evaluated. The fingerings are by Boris Giltburg. With Etude no. V, the edition contains a perennial favourite of the virtuoso repertoire. Scriabin himself spoke of it as “an étude that surpasses the Third Symphony in power and grandeur”.