Good music was not enough for him: Alexander Scriabin wanted people with his music to liberate, redeem humanity. Scriabin's ecstatic sound poem leads the romantic Symphony orchestra at its limits. A departure into infinity: “And the universe echoed / From the joyful call / I am!” Says the end of his soaring poem “Poème de l’extase,” which is the inspiration for the symphonic work. With the voices of the WDR Rundfunkchor. A sung ending sounds in this recording, which crowns the bold flight of the soul with an orgiastic ending. As a long-time guest conductor of the Gürzenich-Orchester Köln, Dmitrij Kitajenko proves his particular affinity for the interpretation of Russian music here, as in Scriabin's Second Symphony. Kitjaneko celebrated his 80th birthday in 2020.

The piano works of Alexander Scriabin, gathered on the newest release by Konstantin Semilakov, allow us to trace the development of his musical language through the chronological order of their composition. Starting from an early phase influenced by 19th century music, it gradually reveals a groundbreaking harmonic system that is no longer based on major-minor tonal connections. Born in Riga in 1984, pianist Konstantin Semilakovs is laureate of the First Prize of the International Piano Competition in Porto, Portugal and prizewinner of the Competition for Young Pianists Ettlingen, Germany. Since 2018 he is appointed professor of piano at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna. He is passionate about researching the phenomenon of 'colour' in the classical piano repertoire and synaesthetic performing of works by the composers Olivier Messiaen and Alexander Scriabin.

Yunjie Chen was born in Jiaxing city (Zhejiang province, China). Displaying extraordinary talent at a young age, Chen Yunjie's gifts were nurtured at the Shanghai Music Conservatory. Chen Yunjie subsequently earned degrees from the Manhattan School of Music, Juilliard School and Cleveland Institute of Music. His mentors include You Dachun, Shao Dan, Wu Ying , Phillip Kawin, Yoheved Kaplinsky, Matti Raekallio and Antonio Pompa-Baldi. Chen Yunjie won first prize in the national piano competition of China at the age of twelve. He then won the China international piano competition in 1994. During his studies in the United States, he won prizes in many important International piano competitions such as Santander in Spain; Cincinnati, Cleveland, YCA, Gina Bachuer in the States; Long-Thibaud in France; Isang Yun and Seoul in Korea. He is Professor of Piano of the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing where he became in 2011 the youngest piano faculty teacher. This recording was realized by Accentus Music in partnership with the Académie France-Chine. The academy was launched in 2018 by the outstanding pianist Zhu Xiao-Mei with the support of Cartier. The purpose of the academy is to promote music education and training, to encourage the emergence of highly talented young artists and to foster cultural exchange between Europe and China.

This new release is the seventh volume in Pervez Mody’s project of Scriabin recordings. The project was funded by a grant from the Ministry of Science, Research and Art Baden-Wurttemberg. Concert pianist Pervez Mody is known for his spirited and thrilling performances with deep emotions and an individually access for music. He enjoys a big reputation on the concert circuit and participated in "Martha Argerich & friends" and Martha Argerich certified: “He is an extraordinary musician and performing artist of a very unique kind. I was fascinated by his powerful emotions... it was an unforgettable experience!“.

Jerfi Aji s a Turkish pianist who successfully attended the Sicily International Piano Competition, winning the right to publish an album with its affiliated label Vermeer. He is an exceptional pianist, with sensitivity and encompassing cultural awareness; he is also an engineer and speaks four languages fluently. Aji has become one of the most acclaimed Scriabin performers. His comprehension of the great Russian composer reveals itself with a clear understanding of the contemporary quality of Scriabin's works. Aji “reads” and performs Scriabin not as a composer working more than a century ago, but as a contemporary. The tracks on this album, selected and sequenced by the artist following a strict logical and aesthetic path defined by intimacy and asceticism, find their natural end with the fabulous Vers la flamme op. 72, one of the most amazing Scriabin works.

Dzmitry Ulasiuk is a splendid pianist, emerging on the American scene after winning over audiences in Europe with his ferocious technical skills yet quietly refined ability to coax every detail, every note, every lyrical phrase out of the keyboard. Dzmitry has a zest for life that transfers into musical panache. He has amazed audiences since 1998, performing solo recitals in Ukraine, Russia, Poland, Germany, Lithuania, Belarus, Estonia, and Croatia as well as in China, Japan, Spain, Costa Rica and the United States. Soft-spoken and humble, Dzmitry has a fast-growing reputation for electrifying performances, prodigious technique, and evocative interpretations. The present release is a showcase of works by Alexander Scriabin.

The history of Scriabin’s piano music is like a condensed history of piano music, for his style changed perhaps more than any other composer during his life. It has been said that young Scriabin kept Chopin’s music under his pillow, and the early Preludes and Mazurkas certainly breathe the same heightened air of ardour and yearning. His journey from the traditional tonal harmony of these Chopinesque beginnings to his atonal ‘Mystic chord’ (based on fourths) is, however, a masterfully smooth one, best appreciated when taking the sum of his work into account. Born in 1947, long resident in London as a professor at the Royal College of Music,

Dmitri Alexeev entered the Moscow Conservatory at six years of age. A string of EMI recordings in the 80s established his reputation worldwide, but they included scant representation of one of his most ardent passions, the music of Scriabin, beyond the concertante Prometheus conducted by Riccardo Muti. Alexeev’s touch emulates the contemporary accounts of Scriabin’s own playing, which did not rely on power because of his slight build. Rather, he ‘captivated the listener through his ability to enhance his sound with an extraordinary range and gradation of color…his fingers seemingly plucked the sound from the piano keys…as if his hands flew over the keyboard barely touching it.’ Made between 2008 and 2019 in London and in the purpose-built Music Room at Champs Hill, home to many superlative modern chamber-music albums, these recordings won broad critical acclaim on their original publication. Their reissue at super-budget price makes an obvious first port of call for any listener looking to immerse themselves in the rich, heady world of Scriabin’s piano writing.

REVIEW:

Single-artist sets such as this are rarely satisfactory with their inevitable troughs and peaks. Here, for two reasons, is an exception: first, for any pianist to play the complete solo piano works of Scriabin (except for works without opus numbers) is a tremendously challenging undertaking; second, the pianist in question is one of today’s keyboard giants. Dmitri Alexeev must rank as one of the most under-the-radar great pianists currently active. Having won the Leeds Competition in 1975 (the first Russian to do so, beating Schiff and Uchida in the process) and enjoyed a high-profile international career for the following decades, Alexeev devotes much of his time to teaching (at the Royal College of Music) and sitting on competition juries. But great pianist he remains.

-- Gramophone