Vladimir Sofronitsky

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Vladimir Sofronitsky (Владимир Софроницкий; May 8 [O.S. April 25] 1901 – August 26, 1961) was a Russian pianist and a pupil, follower, and son-in-law to Alexander Scriabin.

Although Scriabin himself never heard Sofronitsky play, the composer's wife did and vouched that the pianist was the most authentic interpreter of her late husband's works. Indeed, his Scriabin recordings are considered by many to be unsurpassed. Sviatoslav Richter and Emil Gilels looked up to Sofronitsky as their master, and famously, when Sofronitsky once drunkenly proclaimed the former to be a genius, Richter toasted him to be a god.

Few of Sofronitsky's recordings are available in the West. One noteworthy release, in BMG's "Russian Piano School" series, contains a complete concert, including a wonderful, dreamy, mercurial account of Robert Schumann's Piano Sonata No. 1, Op. 11. His issue in Phillips's Great Pianists of the Twentieth Century features Chopin Mazurkas and Waltzes on the first CD, and some of his legendary Scriabin on the second, including the 9th and 10th sonatas and a staggering Vers la Flamme. Denon Classics' Japanese Vladimir Sofronitsky Edition is a series of 15 CDs, 10 of which remain in print.

Vladimir Sofronitsky studied in the Petrograd (Leningrad) Conservatory under Leonid Nikolayev, where Dmitri Shostakovich and Maria Yudina were among his piano classmates. He was married to Scriabin's daughter, Elena Scriabina.