Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Pianist and composer Alexander Scriabin, according to one calendar, was born on Christmas Day, 1972. His highly idiosyncratic figure as both man and musician endeared him to the poets of his time, who were able to understand him, but made him unpopular with contemporary composers, who were too different from him. He was a small man, with genteel and affected mannerisms. He studied piano at the Moscow Conservatory and graduated in 1892 with perfect marks and a medal for merit. He was often struck by nervous fits and tormented by dark thoughts. He was a strange man, who walked with an unusual skip. His early musical production reflects his great skill as a pianist (which was universally acknowledged.) His writing builds on the tradition of Chopin and Liszt. In Scriabin’s vision there is a creator Spirit that permeates matter with light and the matter brought to life becomes “waves” (A in Russian, a word that evokes a cadenced flow). Sound, which exists because it propogates through spherical waves, and color, both constituitive elements of matter, are defined by their vibrations. Sound and color fill up the cosmos, a cosmos made of time and space.

Recorded in 2004 yet only released in 2009, Garrick Ohlsson's traversal of the complete Scriabin Etudes features a vintage 1876 Steinway Style 4 Concert Grand. The instrument's overall sweet tone, pronounced timbral distinction between registers, and wide capacity for nuance inspires some of this pianist's finest recorded work to date. In contrast to the speed, lightness, and surface symmetry characterizing Piers Lane's Etudes cycle (Hyperion), Ohlsson favors more rubato and weightier textures, plus inner voices that murmur more than they smolder. Pedaling sparely, Ohlsson wields a pearly legato touch that fashions effortless long lines out of Op. 8 No. 6's difficult right-hand double notes, Op. 42 No. 2's scurrying left-hand countermelody, and Op. 65 No. 1's pianissimo right-hand major ninths. Op. 8 No. 12 (the one Horowitz made famous) projects intense sustaining power that transcends producer Adam Abeshouse's slightly boxy sonics. And while the trills in Horowitz's "Mosquito" Etude (Op. 42 No. 3) sting, Ohlsson's tickle! Malcolm MacDonald's booklet notes more than rise to Ohlsson's thoughtful and stylistically simpatico virtuosity. Highly recommended.

--Jed Distler, ClassicsToday.com

Russian composer Alexander Scriabin is known to enthusiasts for his theory of musical colors, innovative piano works that pushed the boundaries of tonal writing, and for his untimely demise brought on by an unsanitary razor blade. American pianist and music professor Russell Hirshfield has now recorded an ambitiously-broad selection of the composer's early works which may well provide a novel talking point. There are relatively few recordings of Scriabin's music these days, possibly because it's a daunting task: The compositions demand a high level of virtuosity, but also a natural musical expressiveness that few performers are able to capture. Often, as in the case of the 24 Preludes, the performer is required to condense the emotional depth of an entire sonata movement into one minute or less. It's a well-crafted but fragile kind of music: if any one component, say, the phrasing, is off-color, the whole piece can fall apart. Luckily, Hirshfield is more than up to the challenge. His pianistic sentiment, technical command and interpretive clarity is not only impressive, it's the perfect fit for Scriabin. The level-headed yet profoundly empathetic playing truly brings out the shine in Scriabin's idiosyncratic compositional voice. This rendition isn't drenched in pseudo-Slavic drama which often mars contemporary recordings of Russian composers: instead, it rightfully portrays the pieces as the works of the individual. And it's a success. ALEXANDER SCRIABIN: EARLY WORKS couldn't be more aptly titled: Even though they constitute a selection, one would be hard-pressed not to imagine them as the sole recordings of the true, unadulterated Scriabin. Russell Hirshfield adds another exceptional merit to his great pianistic mastery: that to be a good musician is not only to be a performer, but to be an ambassador.

Classical Music

Classical Music

Yu Jung Yoon was once celebrated as a wunderkind in her childhood. She won several competitions in her homeland Korea, and at the age of 14 she was admitted as the youngest student ever at the Conservatory in St. Petersburg. She is at her best on her debut CD for Dreyer-Gaido playing works by Scriabin.

V19: KATSARIS ARCHIVES

Scriabin: Vers la Flamme, 24 Preludes, Piano Sonatas

Scriabin: Piano Works

SCRIABIN: Mazurkas (Complete)

SCRIABIN: Symphony No. 2 / Symphonic Poem in D Minor

Scriabin: Symphony No. 3 - Poem of Ecstasy