In Matthew Bengtson’s enthusiastic and informative booklet notes, the pianist cites recordings by Horowitz and Sofronitzky as benchmarks, along with warnings not to imitate them. At the same time Bengtson admonishes that “straightforward textual fidelity, with carefully measured rhythms and a literal dynamic scale, is even worse.” In other words, the pianist condemns his own performances, for he’s quite true to text in terms of metric regularity and the proportion of (if not total adherence to) Scriabin’s dynamic markings! You could take dictation from his clean and clear playing, from the Third Sonata’s swirling sequences and the pianist’s carefully delineated rhythms in the Fourth’s second movement to his lucid pedaling throughout the enigmatic Ninth and Tenth.
Bengtson’s brisk tempos do not preclude clarity. Neither do Marc-André Hamelin’s, although the latter’s more colorful and diversified sonority, wider dynamic range, and superior recording quality remain unchallenged, to say nothing of Ashkenazy’s more feverish temperament. Furthermore, I find Bengtson’s sane and straightlaced interpretations overly contained for such insane repertoire to truly ignite in the manner of, you guessed it, Horowitz and Sofronitzky (and Richter’s no slouch in Scriabin, either!). In all, these are respectable and extremely competent PG-13-rated renditions of triple-X music, dryly recorded.
