With no Scriabin on my shelves, I'm thinking it's time to explore his music.
Any recommendations? Especially of the symphonies. Over to the experts...
Any recommendations? Especially of the symphonies. Over to the experts...
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Muti's set with the Philadelphia Orchestra is unsurpassed in the Symphonies, DrT - sadly, not currently available new; but no problem if you're happy either with downloads or second-hand. Both Petrenko's ongoing Oslo cycle, and Gergiev's LSOLive recordings have a lot going for them, but Muti out-astonishes them for me.
My favourite recordings of the Piano Sonatas is the set by Dmitri Alexeev - new copies of which are available at around a tenner. Many are of the opinion that there should be more "abandon" in performances of these works, and Ogden and Szidon are highly praised. I haven't heard the latter in over 30 years, but I'm not as impressed by the former - the astonishing speeds he manages to reach often comes at the blurring of rhythmic accuracy and (for me) melodic/thematic sense - AND he omits the repeats in the First Sonata. I used to own the Ashkenasy set, but all the virtues of his performances are - IMO - excelled by Alexeev. I don't know any of the other sets (by Donahoe, Hamelin, Austbo, Taub, Ohlsson, Fergus-Thompson et al) so would be very glad to read others' comments on these.
And everybody should do themselves the tremendous favour of owning the Ashkenasy/LPO/Maazel recording of the Piano Concerto - unalloyed loveliness
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I return frequently to Szidon playing the last five sonatas, some of the greatest all-time music IMO.Comment
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There’s his complete works on Decca for around £45 but if you don’t want to go the distance at this stage, for the symphonies ferney’s choice of Muti is a good one or the Ashkenazy set, and for the piano sonatas the Ashkenazy on a Double Decca is good value!Comment
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With the symphonies/orchestral, I have been well served down the years by my Decca Ashkenazy CDs and would wholeheartedly recommend them, both in terms of performance and sound quality. The availability of these CDs I'm not sure about because I think I bought mine over a quarter of a century ago.
Very recently I bought the Muti/Philadelphia set that ferney recommends (because I can't find my Ashkenazy CDs) and I would be surprised if ferney was wrong and these performances could be bettered.
It's the solo piano music that's the dog's diamonds though, n'est-ce pas? I have the Maria Lettberg box of the complete solo piano music and it is a veritable treasure-trove of fabulous music - not a weak piece, across 8 CDs. I picked mine up for £15 a while back, but it's still available brand new on Amazon for £23 delivered, which I feel is very good value.
I also have the John Ogdon recordings that ferney very nearly mentions.
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As an adjunct to the sound advice in the previous posts, there is:
I'm not sure that it would be a BaL recommendation but it is well worth hearing, if only for the 'Poème de l'Extase', a performance like no other. I really like Anatol Ugorski's set of the Piano Sonatas but it doesn't seem to be currently available. And then there is:
which has a performance of the 'White Mass' sonata which is well worth the £1.63 + P&P for a used copy. The person who opined that the recital was "bland" must have cloth ears. It's wonderful.Comment
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Je le pense aussi.Originally posted by Beef Oven! View Post
I keep "encountering" this set - very tempting; thanks for the commendation.I have the Maria Lettberg box of the complete solo piano music and it is a veritable treasure-trove of fabulous music - not a weak piece, across 8 CDs. I picked mine up for £15 a while back, but it's still available brand new on Amazon for £23 delivered, which I feel is very good value.
I also have the John Ogdon recordings that ferney very nearly mentions.
My nut done gone flake!
[FONT=Comic Sans MS][I][B]Numquam Satis![/B][/I][/FONT]Comment
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Originally posted by ferneyhoughgeliebte View Post
You won't regret it, if you give in to the temptationI keep "encountering" this set - very tempting; thanks for the commendation.
My nut done gone flake!
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That set of 18 CDs does indeed look like a very good "instant Scriabin" collection for someone like DrT with "no Scriabin on [their] shelves". Some of the names mentioned here are in that box - and £2.50 a disc ...Originally posted by cloughie View Post
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There's a terrific cd of the second symphony played by the (R)SNO under Neemi Jarvi. I remember the Orchestra recording this and me being given an extract to practice by my teacher who played in the Orchestra. There was a passage in double sharps that I couldn't master at all despite practicing very slowly. When I heard the finished recording, the passage was played so fast it could have been anything!Comment
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I agree with fhg John Ogdon's set of the sonatas is fast and furious and imv totally unidiomatic. I'd also like to mention the Scriabin Preludes Op. 11 - superbly played by Mikhail Pletnev (my desert island disc!) and Vladimir Sofronitzky.My life, each morning when I dress, is four and twenty hours less. (J Richardson)Comment
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This mighty recording recommended to me on these boards takes some whacking:
Scriabin Symphony 3 'Le Divin Poeme' & 'Le Poeme de l'Extase' - New York Philharmonic Orchestra / Giuseppe Sinopoli on Deutsche Grammophon.
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I don't find Scriabin's orchestral music very convincing, it seems to me that he never found a way with the orchestra to achieve the sophistication and textural inventiveness that his piano music has, especially the later pieces. I avoided the earlier pieces for a long time because I first wanted to understand where they had come from, and my knowledge of Chopin was quite sketchy for a long time, but, having got to know Chopin much more closely, I could then return to Scriabin's early works and have a better idea of how original they are, which is more than I'd thought. But still, all the piano music from the 7th sonata onwards is really in a world of its own. The first Scriabin I heard was the recording of Szidon playing the 7th, and I still think nobody else plays the opening (to name only this) of the 7th sonata as powerfully and implacably as he does. Mikhail Rudy's recordings of the late piano pieces are really superb, especially the 10th sonata which is probably my favourite. And then there's Horowitz whose 10th sonata is also breathtaking.Comment
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