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 - though with an astonishing violence in the process. The passionate mysticism has completely overtaken the music, leaving no trace of lyricism behind.

The heavy, almost cluster-like sonorities anticipate the later violence of Prokofiev’s final Sonatas. After the cataclysmic climax, Scriabin wrote a now somewhat famous chord of 25 notes, like a bolt of lightning striking across the entire keyboard: the divine punishment! The music finally evaporates in a light breath—just like Scarbo in Ravel.