Initially, the composer cast his spell on me with those perfect miniature pieces from his early and middle periods. The great collections of early Scriabin piano music are the Preludes, op. 11, and the Etudes op. 8 and op. 42. This music succeeds uniquely in combining formal perfection with pianistic virtuosity and the most ardent Romanticism - both ecstatic and tragic - that speaks directly to the heart, in an authentic Russian accent. Yes, it is true that this music was highly influenced by Chopin, but how couldn't it be? Chopin was a great inspiration for the whole history of Russian music-making. It isn't quite so popular to point out how heavily the more "canonical" composers Debussy and Ravel were indebted to Chopin and to Liszt's innovative techniques, but in any case these kinds of influences should hardly be used to denigrate any of the spectacular achievements of any of these composers.
At the end of this Horowitz CBS disc was some music of a different and remarkable character: the Ninth and Tenth Sonatas, and Vers la Flamme. At first I wasn't so sure what to make out of these extravagant gesticulations, but as I continued to listen, this late music ("psychedelic music," said the liner notes) cast a truly magical spell with its highly imaginative, mystical character. Colors and images radiate from the piano; fires sputter and crackle unpredictably in their cauldrons; caressing waves abound, alluring the listener, who is carried away by an ardent, winged flight; dangers also abound - quite suddenly and unexpectedly horrible demonic processions, poisonous magic spells, and creatures of darkness intrude on the landscape. Even with so much adventure, the composer's "Apollinian" formal control always manages these Dionysian elements, making still more powerful the sensation that one is being harassed by some powerful supernatural forces on these journeys. An imaginative and completely individual harmonic system, breaking the bounds of tonality, gives the composer special new possibilities. This harmony can be sometimes so dense with chromatic inflections that one wonders if he is even using the cracks between the notes! This "saturated" quality contributes essentially to the intensity of these mysterious visions. The later music held its fascination for me for the longest time, and Scriabin owes his current reputation among music historians largely to these same inimitable late works, even though they are somewhat less frequently performed than the early music, which is easier for the audience on first hearing.
Certainly I needed to participate in such music much more than just from the perspective of a listener. I wanted to create it from the piano, and I spent many hours in rapt fascination at the keyboard. It all kept me quite busy practicing. For the first time I began to practice regularly, and I haven't stopped to this day! The nature and quality of it have changed, but I still have to remember with some nostalgia the time when I played through the tenth sonata at least once a day for several months in a row! Even after the performance it took me several years to lose the itch to sit down and play through this incredible piece.
Now, it is quite easy to look back and pinpoint this as my true beginnings as a serious pianist. It is why I enjoy using the code-name "scriabin" for my email address, my website, my Internet Chess Club handle, my license plate (CKPRBIN, an odd sort of Cyrillic/English mixture), etc. .. ! Scriabin lovers are notoriously fanatical in their devotion and enthusiasm. I have gotten into some interesting conversations as a result of this. Since this period of intensive fascination I have explored, discovered and appreciated the appeal of other regions of the literature, and I have rounded out my repertoire and knowledge of music thereby. However, Scriabin's music will always hold a significant and honorable position in my repertoire. I hope that I am doing my part to spread the inspiration and fascination of this music.
Prokofiev steered away from Scriabin, almost self-consciously or even defensively. He demanded of his students, "No dominant ninth chords!" However one occasionally detects some Scriabin in Prokofiev's more atmospheric (perhaps "French" sounding) creations (some parts of his second sonata spring to mind). It was perhaps Prokofiev's intuition for Scriabin's world that caused him - in his typically undiplomatic manner - to criticize Rachmaninoff's performance of the Scriabin Fifth Sonata. These two composers never got along ever since that incident.
Stravinsky came down very hard on Scriabin in the middle of his blathering anti-Romantic rhetoric in which he claimed that music was incapable of expressing anything. (For if you believe this, you would have to conclude that Scriabin had misspent his entire life, except perhaps for having kept himself well entertained.) Nevertheless Stravinsky is known to have been completely fascinated by this music at a time. Even without biographical information, some of his early music could have documented this fact quite well enough (Stravinsky never hesitated to draw freely - at times we might even say steal? - from his sources of inspiration). The Firebird ballet, in its full version, is full of sensuous, languid sections that are unquestionably redolent of the Scriabin perfume, especially in their harmonic content. Even though we can look back and say that Stravinsky changed radically after the Firebird, we still must place this ballet as one of Stravinsky's masterpieces; at the least, it secured his reputation.
It was also Stravinsky who asked the very penetrating question worth contemplating: "Scriabin. Where did he come from? And who are his forebears?" In fact, Scriabin was so individual as to defy any easy categorization, and his music is internally so driven by an esoteric mysticism that following his path is particularly hazardous for a composer. This mysticism was inspired and fueled by Symbolist poets, such as Madame Blavatsky. Scriabin's concept of the passage of time, and of the internal logic of a composition, are certainly non-Western. The composers who embraced elements of Scriabin's style were most successful when they had Eastern philosophical concepts of their own to guide them on their path. For Prokofiev and Stravinsky, who were to work with the traditional forms of Western music and its orderly way of progressing through time, the Scriabin influence was a pernicious one that had to be eliminated. Perhaps their anti-Scriabin rhetoric was ultimately necessary in order for them to free themselves from his influence and get on with exploring their own distinctive personalities.
It is fortunate that Messiaen directed his mysticism in a very different direction - through his Catholic faith (as opposed to Scriabin's often egocentric theosophy and Symbolism) - because this gave him entirely new artistic imperatives and possibilities of expression. Messiaen also contributed an interest in birdsong, and expanded the mathematical relationships among tones that Scriabin had begun to probe and exploit in his later music. Since Messiaen's extramusical goals were more honorable (I think we could safely say), we can follow his programmatic designs with more interest, and he certainly deserves his status as a 20th century giant. However, if we consider the music itself apart from the sources of its inspiration (admittedly a dangerous approach to use too often), we must observe that Messiaen's music is often rather passive and even sentimental in its depiction of divine love. Although all of this is clearly by design, I find it more remarkable what Scriabin was able to do with his apparently static harmonic language; his music is nevertheless always suffused with yearning and desire.
In his "middle period" Szymanowski is heavily influenced by later Scriabin, in his similarly rich harmonic and textural palette, and in the sensuous quality of the music with its ecstatic climaxes. Szymanowski brought his own set of mystical inspirations from Arab and Persian cultures, and from an idealized view of ancient Greece. The clearest examples are "the M's" (the Myths, op. 30, for Violin and Piano, and the two piano cycles, the Masques, op. 34 and Metopes op. 26), the Etudes for Piano, op. 33, and the Third Symphony, "Song of the Night", which has a close relationship to Scriabin's "Prometheus", op. 60.
(By the way, my own way of "getting inside" Prometheus was to arrange the work for two pianos; surprisingly, no other such score is available today). My transcription can serve as a useful "study guide" for the work and as a practical tool for a solo pianist learning the part and wanting to hear the work without the luxury of a symphony orchestra in his room.)
Vladimir Horowitz, CBS Masterworks MK 42411 "Alexander Scriabin" contains Etudes from op. 8 and 42, the 9th and 10th sonatas, Vers la Flamme and some other short works. Miraculous playing from the man most responsible for Scriabin's recognition in this country.
Vladimir Horowitz, RCA Victor 6215-2-RG, "Horowitz plays Scriabin" contains the 3rd and 5th Sonatas and a large collection of Preludes, plus a few Etudes in a different interepretation from the above CD. A perfect companion disc to the previous one.
Sviatoslav Richter, Arkadia CDGI 910.1 "Alexander Scriabin" as played in Warsaw, October 27, 1972. Contains Preludes from op. 11, op. 37 and op. 74, Etudes from op. 42, the Sonatas no. 2, 5, and 9, and a few other miniatures. Another of the very great Scriabin players.
"Scriabin and the Scriabinians", Harmonia Mundi "Saison Russe" LDC 288032 and RUS 788032 (essentially identical). Hear great historical interpreters of Scriabin: the composer himself(!) , Alexander Goldenweiser, Samuel Feinberg, Heinrich Neuhaus, and Vladimir Sofronitsky. It is unfortunate that the recording technology was primitive in Scriabin's day but this is the best document we have. The other performances are also noteworthy; in particular, the Feinberg Mazurka interpretations are magical.
Vladimir Sofronitzki, "Scriabine Sonatas", Le Chant du Monde LDC 278 764. Contains the Sonatas nos. 3, 4, 5, 8, 9, and 10. The composer's son-in-law was widely regarded as one of his greatest interpreters. This is a flamboyant and ambitious approach to the music.
Symphony no. 3 "Le Divin Poème", Le Poème de l'Extase. Deutsche Grammophon 427 324-2 New York Philharmonic directed by Giuseppe Sinopoli. Two of the great Scriabin orchestral works in an excellent performance and recording, by the great and recently deceased genius of the baton, Sinopoli.
"Preparations for the Final Mystery", Decca 289 466 329-2, Vladimir Ashkenazy conducting Berlin's Deutsches Symphony Orchestra, with Alexei Lubimov at the piano. An extraordinary composition based on Scriabin's sketches left incomplete that give a glimpse of the composer's gigantic visions.
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