The three last sonatas of Scriabin were composed during the same period, and Sonata No. 8 was the very last to be finished. More contemplative, it contains fewer extreme contrasts than the previous ones, without a real sense of dramaturgy, but rather a beautiful ritual of constantly whirling motifs—like a sea of incantations. The music is full of light, meditative, out of reality. The more agitated parts recall the boiling energy found in the Sonata No.5 Op.53.

Never had Scriabin been so complex: the motifs superpose themselves in unbelievably organic ways (up to four complex rhythmic motifs played at the same time), and harmonies outside his pre-established system can be observed (the sonata opens with a 10-note chord…), perhaps foreshadowing his final project, the “Mystery”, whose manuscript shows traces of chords containing the complete diatonic system.

Around the same period, the expressionist First Sonata of Allan Berg would share similarities with this sonata, although stemming from a totally different philosophy.