Ten dances in this first Mazurkas collection :

No.1 - Tempo giusto (B Minor)
No.2 - Allegretto non tanto (F♯ minor)
No.3 - Allegretto (G Minor)
No.4 - (E major)
No.5 - Doloroso (D♯ minor)
No.6 - Scherzando (C♯ minor)
No.7 - Con passione (E Minor)
No.8 - Con moto (B♭ minor)
No.9 - (G♯ minor)
No.10 - (E♭ minor)

First major work of such scale and scope. It showcases a wealth of delightful romantic sounds, blended with Slavic textures, making it perhaps Scriabin’s most distinctly “national” piece. The ideas are diverse despite the work being composed at the age of 18.

• No.1 possesses great intensity and energetic drive, and opens the collection with striking strength.
• No.5 stands out through its chromaticism and lyrical polyphony, marking one of the most personal statements in Scriabin’s early output.
• No.9 introduces a very important motif in Scriabin’s oeuvre, a jump of fourth followed by chromatic descending repeated note. This particular motif constitutes the motivic base of others major works (Finale of Sonata No.3 and Sonata No.4).
• No.10 is the longest and most developed. It is a kind of mix of all the previous ideas to conclude the Suite, in the same manner as Ravel will later organise his Valses Nobles et Sentimentales (1911). The climax, full of great energy, already foreshadows pieces of extreme intensity like Sonata No.1 Op.6 and Fantaisie Op.28.