Alexander Scriabin in 1903 Photo: Public Domain
In this programme, Peter Hoar tries to untangle Scriabin’s philosophic ideals and complex music, concluding, “he wasn’t mad, just mystical.”
“As a true original it’s hard to fit him neatly into a tidy history of Western music. His highly individual brand of spiritualism and has led more sober critics and historians to dismiss him as a wild crank.
"Funnily enough he seems to fit quite well with our modern age when New Age spiritualism and ideas imported wholesale from other cultures such as mindfulness fill self-help books, magazines, and websites.”
Alexander Scriabin's key-colour association.
Related Listening:
Music Details:
SCRIABIN: Deux Poèmes Op. 69, No.2, Allegretto - Garrick Ohlsson (Hyperion)
SCRIABIN: Etude in C# minor, Op. 2, No. 1 - Piers Lane (Helios)
SCRIABIN: Prelude in B, Op.2, No.2 - Piers Lane (Helios)
SCRIABIN: Prelude. Op. 74, No. 5, 'Fier, belliqueux' - John Ogden (EMI)
SCRIABIN: Sonata No. 9 in F ('Black Mass'), Op. 68 - Vladimir Ashkenazy (Decca)
SCRIABIN: Prometheus The Poem of Fire Op.60 - Kirov Orchestra, St Petersburg/Alexander Toradze (Phillips)
SCRIABIN: Two Pieces, Op. 57, No. 1. ‘Desir’ - Alexander Scriabin (piano roll) (Pierian)
SCRIABIN: Symphony 4 Op.54 (Poem of Ecstasy) - Radio-Symphonie-Orchester Berlin/Vladimir Ashkenazy (Decca)