Probably the most violent piece of Scriabin’s entire output, a pianistic debauchery of accumulated ferocious sound. Despite the constant brutality and evilness, the piece is referred to as a “white mass purifying the spirits.” The work can be seen as an exorcism, a cleansing of demonic forces but with an astonishing violence in the process. The passionate mysticism has completely overtaken the music, leaving no trace of lyricism behind.

The introduction, composed of heavy and almost cluster-like textures, anticipates the later violence of Prokofiev (Sonata No.6 : “con el pugno”). After the cataclysmic climax, Scriabin wrote a famous chord of 25 notes, like a bolt of lightning striking across the entire keyboard, maybe acting as the divine punishment or as the demon leaving the body of the exorcised. The music finally evaporates in a light breath, in the same maneer as the Scarbo of Ravel.