About this work
Scriabin marks the Prelude, Op. 59 No. 2, “Sauvage, belliqueux”—wild and warlike. Strongly accented chords confront small chromatic movements in the inner voices and wide-ranging arpeggiated runs. The 6/8 metre therefore creates no gentle sway: it frames sudden surges, suspensions and almost theatrical replies.
An upbeat and sixty-one complete bars compress a great deal into three pages: accents, slurs, quintuplets, abrupt dynamic changes and wide gaps between registers. The opening motif returns in altered light and eventually occupies the full sound space. The challenge is not merely to grasp the chords, but to distinguish their structural notes from the mass surrounding them.
Practise attacks without pedal and count two broad pulses in each bar. Isolate the chromatic figures, aiming for their arrival rather than pressing every note. Restore the chords slowly at first, then add pedal after harmonic changes are secure. The warlike character should arise from rhythm and contrast rather than a permanently hard tone.
What the document containsThe 3-page PDF contains the complete prelude, while the MIDI file helps follow the continuity of the voices. This LilyPond engraving matches Mutopia Project record 445, which places it in the public domain. LesPartitions.info provides the score and MIDI for piano study.