Performed by pianist Joong Han Jung at his recital in the Music Theatre at the University of Auckland, 14 May 2018.
Joong Han Jung Photo: RNZ/Tim Dodd
Russian composer, Alexander Scriabin finished one of his most extravagant orchestral works, The Poem of Ecstasy, in 1907. He had written an actual text poem with the same title to accompany the work - it tracks the ascent of a spirit into consciousness ... and to much else as well.
At the end of that year, he wrote his 5th Piano Sonata and based it also on the poem - it inhabits the same world of heady passion and sensuality as the orchestral work. The published score of the sonata contains a few lines from the poem at the top.
The translation of these lines from the Russian by Faubion Bowers runs:
I summon you to life
Hidden longings!
You, sunken
In the sombre depths
Of creative spirit,
You timid embryos
Of life,
To you I bring
Daring!
Recorded for RNZ Concert by Tim Dodd.