What with all the generalized do-badding, and all the uses and abuses of religious settings going on around Gnosis, I guess it would only be a matter of time before someone decided on performing a Black Mass.

Félicien Rops (1833 - 1898), "Black Mass" (or "The Sacrifice") 1883

Just not that kind of Black Mass, fond as we all can be of Félicien Rops (intriguing gallery here).

This kind of Black Mass.

Alexander Scriabin‘s Sonata No. 9, performed here by naughty (but clearly virtuosic) young Arthur Kaufman, first seen in Invisible Girl, Heroine precipitating an orgy. A talented young man indeed!

The point at which Maureen walks in on him to settle his hash respecting the aphrodisiac she stole from him is approximately here in the score.

The dynamics marking in the score at the end of the crescendo shown in the third measure is only f, but I have yet to hear a recording of this work in which the performer interpreted that to mean anything other than “wicked loud.” I wouldn’t know how to characterize the technical demands of this piece other than “wicked difficult.” Small wonder Maureen had little trouble dropping in on Arthur.

And if you want to see it performed, you’re in luck, because YouTube has Yevgeny Sudbin doing just that.

Scarier than some old ritual with daggers and alters, or at least so it seems to me.