SCRIABIN – SCARLATTI (Deluxe Edition) Julius Asal

• Alexander Scriabin (1872 - 1915): Piano Sonata No. 1 in F Minor, Op. 6:
• 1 Scriabin: Piano Sonata No. 1 in F Minor, Op. 6: IV. Funebre (Prologue) 01:28
• Domenico Scarlatti (1685 - 1757): Keyboard Sonata in F Minor, Kk. 466:
• 2 Scarlatti: Keyboard Sonata in F Minor, Kk. 466 07:56
• Alexander Scriabin: 24 Préludes, Op. 11:
• 3 Scriabin: 24 Préludes, Op. 11: No. 20, Appassionato in C Minor 01:02
• Domenico Scarlatti: Keyboard Sonata in C Minor, Kk. 56:
• 4 Scarlatti: Keyboard Sonata in C Minor, Kk. 56 03:37
• Keyboard Sonata in C Minor, Kk. 58:
• 5 Scarlatti: Keyboard Sonata in C Minor, Kk. 58 03:58
• Alexander Scriabin: Piano Sonata No. 1 in F Minor, Op. 6:
• 6 Scriabin: Piano Sonata No. 1 in F Minor, Op. 6: I. Allegro con fuoco 07:34
• 7 Scriabin: Piano Sonata No. 1 in F Minor, Op. 6: II. (Adagio) 05:19
• 8 Scriabin: Piano Sonata No. 1 in F Minor, Op. 6: III. Presto 03:42
• 9 Scriabin: Piano Sonata No. 1 in F Minor, Op. 6: IV. Funebre 05:28
• Domenico Scarlatti: Keyboard Sonata in F Minor, Kk. 238:
• 10 Scarlatti: Keyboard Sonata in F Minor, Kk. 238 03:25
• Julius Asal (b. 1997): TRANSITION I:
• 11 Asal: TRANSITION I 04:30
• Alexander Scriabin: 12 Etudes, Op. 8:
• 12 Scriabin: 12 Etudes, Op. 8: No. 11 in B-Flat Minor 03:41
• 24 Préludes, Op. 11:
• 13 Scriabin: 24 Préludes, Op. 11: No. 21, Andante in B-Flat Major 01:36
• Domenico Scarlatti: Keyboard Sonata in B-Flat Major, Kk. 544:
• 14 Scarlatti: Keyboard Sonata in B-Flat Major, Kk. 544 04:20
• Alexander Scriabin: 5 Preludes, Op. 16:
• 15 Scriabin: 5 Preludes, Op. 16: No. 4 in E-Flat Minor 01:07
• Julius Asal: TRANSITION II:
• 16 Asal: TRANSITION II 03:01
• Alexander Scriabin: 24 Préludes, Op. 11:
• 17 Scriabin: 24 Préludes, Op. 11: No. 14, Presto in E-Flat Minor 00:59
• 5 Preludes, Op. 16:
• 18 Scriabin: 5 Preludes, Op. 16: No. 1 in B Major 02:22
• 24 Préludes, Op. 11:
• 19 Scriabin: 24 Préludes, Op. 11: No. 6, Allegro in B Minor 00:57
• Domenico Scarlatti: Keyboard Sonata in B Minor, Kk. 87:
• 20 Scarlatti: Keyboard Sonata in B Minor, Kk. 87 06:40
• Alexander Scriabin: Piano Sonata No.1 in F Minor, Op. 6:
• 21 Scriabin: Piano Sonata No.1 in F Minor, Op. 6: IV. Funebre (Epilogue) 01:46
• 22 Scriabin: Piano Sonata No.1 in F Minor, Op. 6: IV. Funebre (Prologue / Upright Version) 01:30
• Domenico Scarlatti: Keyboard Sonata in F Minor, Kk. 466 (Upright Version):
• 23 Scarlatti: Keyboard Sonata in F Minor, Kk. 466 (Upright Version) 03:57
• Julius Asal: TRANSITION I (Upright Version):
• 24 Asal: TRANSITION I (Upright Version) 04:43
• Alexander Scriabin: 24 Préludes, Op. 11:
• 25 Scriabin: 24 Préludes, Op. 11: No. 21 in B-Flat Major. Andante (Upright Version) 01:36
• 5 Preludes, Op. 16:
• 26 Scriabin: 5 Preludes, Op. 16: No. 1 in B Major (Upright Version) 02:22
• Domenico Scarlatti: Keyboard Sonata in B Flat Major, Kk. 545:
• 27 Scarlatti: Keyboard Sonata in B Flat Major, Kk. 545 02:47
• Julius Asal: TRANSITION III:
• 28 Asal: TRANSITION III 04:20
• Alexander Scriabin: 6 Preludes, Op. 13:
• 29 Scriabin: 6 Preludes, Op. 13: No. 1 in C Major 02:56
• Julius Asal: Improvisation on Scriabin (Live from Seoul Arts Center):
• 30 Asal: Improvisation on Scriabin (Live from Seoul Arts Center) 02:42
• Total Runtime 01:41:21

Info for SCRIABIN – SCARLATTI (Deluxe Edition)

"Julius Asal presents his first release on Deutsche Grammophon: ""Scriabin – Scarlatti"". The album combines the music of two composers who are rarely mentioned in the same breath - one a Russian, fascinated by mysticism and its artistic expression, the other a Neapolitan, famous for the liveliness and sophistication of his 555 piano sonatas.

Julius Asal - innovative programmer and rousing interpreter "Julius Asal's piano playing immediately amazed me. It is a mystery to me how he was able to find his uniquely sonorous sound. The instrument seemed to tell him a secret," is how the legendary pianist Menahem Pressler described his impression of Asal's playing. He is not alone in this and, as a prizewinner of numerous competitions, Asal is now a regular guest at international festivals and renowned concert halls. Growing up in a family of musicians in the Taunus near Frankfurt am Main, Asal had his first contact with the piano before he began to speak. Even as a small child, he improvised freely and played what he heard on the instrument autodidactically. Soon after, he received piano lessons and later studied at the Hanns Eisler Academy of Music in Berlin and at the Kronberg Academy. His intuitive approach to the piano and his joy in improvisation have remained with him. This is evidenced by his debut album, released in spring 2022 on the Spanish label IBS Classical, with works by Sergei Prokofiev and his own arrangements from the ballet Romeo and Juliet, as well as his first album “Scriabin – Scarlatti” on Deutsche Grammophon.

Scriabin and Scarlatti in dialogue

Even though the composers Alexander Scriabin (1872–1915) and Domenico Scarlatti (1685–1757) are separated by almost 200 years of music history – on Asal's album they appear like complementary characters. The album focuses on the Piano Sonata No. 1 in F minor, Op. 6 by Scriabin, which is accompanied by his early preludes and one of his etudes from Op. 8 and combined with six sonatas by Scarlatti, including the melancholic Piano Sonata in F minor, K 466, and the yearning Piano Sonata in B flat major, K 544. Asal sees the miniatures as “mythical creatures from another dimension – with their own character, their own life, their own past, present and future”. Asal also created two improvisational transitions especially for the recording as connecting elements that lead from one time to the other. “Perhaps when listening, you will sense the symmetry between the real and the imaginary and feel how the original compositions are brought together through the coupling and my two transitions via the imagination,” Asal hopes. In order to embed the various compositions coherently, he has also created a musical framework for his album. The album begins and ends with a fragment from the finale of Sciabin's First Piano Sonata - a passage with the performance marking "Quasi niente", which resounds like a musical deja vu.

Various instruments

To further underline the variety of the individual pieces, Asal recorded the works on two different Steinway grand pianos, one of which has a lush and dark sound, while the other sounds crystalline and crisp. The artist also decided to record pieces by both composers on one piano.

Dreamlike and moving

As different as Scriabin's and Scarlatti's musical language may seem at first glance - on Asal's new album the various pieces flow into one another seemingly effortlessly and the boundaries between works, eras and world views blur. "In a dream, anything is possible," says the 27-year-old musician. Even seemingly heterogeneous materials from different times and different densities can combine and form a substance that has never existed before. This is actually the case on his album and Asal succeeds in taking listeners on a moving journey into the realm of dreams with his captivating interpretation of both large and small musical works.

Julius Asal, piano

Julius Asal
"Julius Asal's piano playing immediately amazed me. It is a mystery to me how he was able to find his uniquely sonorous sound. The instrument seemed to tell him a secret." MENAHEM PRESSLER

The German pianist Julius Asal grew up as the eldest son of a family of musicians in the Taunus near Frankfurt am Main. He first came into contact with the piano before he could even speak. As a small child he improvised freely and played what he heard on the instrument autodidactically. It was only years later that he received his first lessons and later studied at the Hanns Eisler Academy of Music in Berlin and the Kronberg Academy.

Today the prizewinner of numerous competitions is a regular guest at international festivals and renowned concert halls, which has taken him to the Wigmore Hall in London, the Vienna Musikverein, the Laeiszhalle in Hamburg and the Suntory Hall in Tokyo. In recent years, Asal has been particularly influenced by his collaboration with his mentors Eldar Nebolsin and Sir András Schiff. He has also received artistic inspiration from musicians such as Alfred Brendel, Gidon Kremer and Menahem Pressler.

In spring 2022, Julius Asal's debut album was released on the Spanish label IBS Classical with works by Sergei Prokofiev and his own arrangements from the ballet Romeo and Juliet, which received international recognition. In 2023, Asal signed an exclusive contract with Deutsche Grammophon. His debut with DG, Scriabin - Scarlatti, will be released on May 3, 2024. The album interweaves Scriabin's Piano Sonata No. 1 in F minor, op. 6, his early preludes and one of his etudes from op. 8 with six sonatas by Scarlatti, including the melancholic Piano Sonata in F minor, K 466, and the yearning Piano Sonata in B flat major, K 544.

Improvisation and the resulting almost native approach to the piano have remained with him to this day and are sometimes evident in his concerts; for example in October 2023 at Deutsche Grammophon's Yellow Lounge, where the pianist stepped in within a few hours with an innovative concept that combined classical works with improvisations. The French newspaper Le Monde described his interpretations and the compilation of his programs as "captivating strangeness" and titled "The secret and subtle alliances of Julius Asal".

This album contains no booklet.