Scriabin

[IEDSRI@aol.com]

Brad, who is too kind, asks:

 > As usual, IED's instincts are correct (Rachmaninoff and
 > Chopin), but who in the name of KATE is Scriabin?

Alexander Nikolaievitch Scriabin (1872-1915) was an
important late Romantic Russian composer and pianist
whose early music was heavily influenced by Chopin,
but whose style developed into a distinctive
kind of proto-modernist harmonic language.  

IED will not try to argue against the implications of both your and Michael
Rees's postings that the mere fact of association with the late Romantic
tradition is some kind of deficiency (viz. "IMO good technician,  some
interesting ideas, but it's still basically late romantic music", operative
word "but").  Suffice it to say that Scriabin, like Rachmaninoff, needn't
worry . . . 

A few of S's short pieces for piano have become standard
encore repertoire, particularly the Etudes Op. 2, No. 2
and Op. 8, No. 12 (the famous D-Sharp Minor Etude).
The late works are considerably more adventurous and 
eccentric, with less easily graspable melody and 
heavy exploration of what Scriabin called his 
"mystic chord" -- a sometimes-changing two-handed
sequence of enhanced fourths, building to elevenths, thirteenths, etc.  For
anyone interested in investigating firsthand, let IED recommend a powerful
young Russian pianist's CD collection: Scriabin Pieces for Piano played by
Andrei Gavrilov; and a two-CD set on DG of a now-discounted mid-Seventies
recording of the complete piano sonatas
performed by the unmatched interpreter Roberto
Szidon.  (Alas! though the most immediately accessible
pieces for newcomers to Scriabin's music are the 
12 Etudes of Op. 8, IED cannot recommend any of the
currently available CD editions, as the best recordings
- -- mid-Sixties turns by Viktor Merzhanov and Morton Estrin,
resp. -- are not available on CD.  If anyone's interested,
though, a marvelous pianist named Nikita Magaloff (sp?)
has recently released a performance of these etudes, 
which are almost certain to sound wonderful in his 
hands, though IED cannot say for certain as he hasn't
heard the recording yet.) 

End of digression.  IED promises not to stray from
the saKred Topic again for some time.

- -- Andrew Marvick (IED)
     S              R              I