The D5 Not Existing
The ultra-high Scriabin D8 (or… D5, see Zoltan’s comment below) is really real:
Thanks to Zoltan for finding a link to the score (the piece is Scriabin’s Op. 62, the 6th Sonata). It’s on the last page. At the end of the score there is a note which reads:
The D5 not existing on the piano keyboard was substituted by Scriabin, according to contemporary witnesses, by substituting the C5
So, errr, anyone care to hazard a guess why he put it in in the first place? Poor pianists, practicing each page until it’s perfect, and then they reach the last few bars to find a note which exists only in piano fantasy land. It’s a bit like being in a spelling bee where the winning word is just a bunch of clicks and squeaking noises.
Is it because it “should” be there, according to the harmony or something? That doesn’t seem like a very convincing reason.