The Scriabin Mystery: Piano Works
Title:

The Scriabin Mystery: Piano Works

Artists:
Release Date:

23rd September 2022

Cat No:

AV2500

Price:

£12.99

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Summary:

“Expansive and full-bodied readings … alluring phrasings and ravishing high-register tracery … Larderet gives his fervent all … excellent production values also deserve mention and praise – Gramophone

“Larderet is quite musical with every little phrase … well worth hearing a number of times … fascinating program” – American Record Guide

“Larderet plays Scriabin with sensitivity and breathtaking technique” – Earrelevant.net

“Vincent Larderet traverses the full, expressive range of Scriabin’s oeuvre, from his post-Romantic impulses from Chopin through his highly idiosyncratic, even solipsistic, ecstasies in exalted ego” – Audiophile Edition

“Larderet makes every chord shine in all its complexity, compellingly builds up the small sound dramas, gives the large pieces that aura of sublime violence” – Neue Musikzeitung

“a remarkable album by a pianist whose name is worth remembering” – Rondo Magazine

line

The Scriabin Mystery is brought to vivid life by acclaimed French pianist Vincent Larderet and celebrates the 150th anniversary of the birth of the Russian composer. Larderet presents a comprehensive survey of the scope of Scriabin’s output and the evolution of his style, from his early, post-Romantic works influenced by Chopin and Liszt, through to the modernism of the 20th century in his final works. His harmonies famously coloured by his synesthesia, Scriabin’s craft was a revolutionary fusion of freedom of expression underpinned by a sense of unity and geometric proportion, his psychologically complex constructions infused with incandescence and mysticism.

Scriabin’s music has long held pride of place in Larderet’s repertoire. He offers a brilliant and broad overview of the composer’s evolution in chronological sequence, revealing the mystery of one of the most visionary composers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Scriabin’s life was tragically cut short at the age of 43, leaving his final work, Acte préalable, unfinished. Long thought lost, the sketches were re-discovered by composer and musicologist Manfred Kelkel, who used the material for his composition Tombeau de Scriabine. Vincent includes the Prelude of this work as a touching encore to The Scriabin Mystery.

Tracklist:

ALEXANDER SCRIABIN (1872–1915)

1. Etude in C sharp minor Op. 2 No. 1 3.17
2. Etude in F sharp minor Op. 8 No. 2 1.44
3. Etude in B flat minor Op. 8 No. 11 4.08

Prelude & Nocturne for the left hand Op. 9
4. I. Prelude: Andante 2.47
5. II. Nocturne: Andante 4.35

Piano Sonata No. 2 Op. 19 ‘Sonata Fantasy’
6. I. Andante 8.59
7. II. Presto 4.25

8. Etude in C sharp minor Op. 42 No. 5 3.47

9. Piano Sonata No. 7 Op. 64 ‘White Mass’ 15.07

10. Piano Sonata No. 9 Op. 68 ‘Black Mass’ 10.50

11. ‘Vers la flamme’ Op. 72 Poeme 6.16

5 Preludes Op. 74
12. I. Douloureux, déchirant 1.17
13. II. Très lent, contemplatif 2.24
14. III. Allegro drammatico 0.51
15. IV. Lent, vague, indécis 2.36
16. V. Fier, belliqueux 1.06

MANFRED KELKEL (1929–1999)

Tombeau de Scriabine Op. 22: 5.14
17. I. Prelude: after sketches of the ‘Acte préalable’ from Scriabin’s ‘Mysterium’

DIGITAL BONUS TRACKS

ALEXANDER SCRIABIN

2 Danses op. 73
18. I. Guirlandes
19. II. Flammes sombres

Vincent Larderetpiano

Recorded: 7–10 December 2021, Festeburgkirche Frankfurt, Germany
Recording Producer: Martin Rust
Grand Piano: Steinway D 5444070
Piano Tuner: Hannes Kneisel

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