April 20, 27 & May 4, 1972: CBS 30th Street Studio, New York City, New York (Studio)

This nocturne is stylistically more advanced than its earlier namesakes, exhibiting that mystical, otherworldly quality associated with late Scriabin. Cool and distant, the music here is cool and seems to convey a sense of wandering or floating. Sparsely textured, the writing displays advanced harmonic structures. The piece opens quietly, the notes sounding tentative as if gingerly testing the sonic waters to find a thematic stream to swim in. Somewhat Impressionistic, the music nevertheless seems to evoke netherworlds or astral spheres. [Robert Cummings]

Horowitz had an exceptional sense of expression in Scriabin's music, especially in his later works, which he used to perform after the 1960s. He subtly interprets this short, almost atonal piece, leading into the dreamlike.

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