Alexander Scriabin occupies a special position among the Russian piano composers around the turn of the 19th to the 20th century. Already in his early works, he went beyond the Chopinesque traditions of his contemporaries Glazunov and Rachmaninoff. As he also did in his innumerable preludes, of which he brought together 24 in his op. 11, allowing for each major and minor key. However, in spite of keeping to the strict order of the circle of fifths, he took care to ensure that “each prelude is a small composition which can exist self-contained, independent of the other preludes”. By comparing the autograph and the first edition of 1897, this Henle Urtext edition has corrected a number of errors and inaccuracies. A grandiose work which should belong in the repertoire of every pianist!
G. Henle Publishers stands for Urtext sheet music of the highest quality. The Urtext editions not only provide the undistorted and authoritative musical text but are also aesthetically pleasing, optimised for practical use and extremely durable. And then there is the strong, distinctive blue profile: (almost) all of the Urtext editions are bound in the characteristic blue cardboard.
Musicians trust Henle's blue Urtext editions because they:
- provide an undistorted, reliable and authoritative musical text
- offer superb, aesthetically appealing music engraving
- are optimised for practical use (page turns, fingerings)
- are of high quality and durable (cover, paper, binding)
- contain a short preface that introduces the work (particularly useful for AMEB exams) in German, English and French, as well as explanatory footnotes for particularly interesting passages in the score
- contain a description of the sources, an evaluation of the sources, readings and a documentation of the corrections made (= "Critical Report") in German and English, and often also in French
