Scriabin... Poem of Ecstasy

[Joseph K]

Thanks, Mandryka, for reminding me of that.

[Serial_Apologist]

Thanks, Mandryka, for reminding me of that.

The Mysterium, I remember reading somewhere, was to be held in a hemispherically-shaped temple, situated by a lake, so that temple and reflection would together form a sphere - the perfect form.

[Joseph K]

The Mysterium, I remember reading somewhere, was to be held in a hemispherically-shaped temple, situated by a lake, so that temple and reflection would together form a sphere - the perfect form.

Indeed, and all of this was to take place somewhere in India...

[Serial_Apologist]

Indeed, and all of this was to take place somewhere in India...

Ah yes, that's right!

[RichardB]

I had great hopes for the recording of Mysterium conducted by Ashkenazy, but I didn't find it very convincing, although it's prefaced by some Scriabin arrangements by Nemtin which are more attractive. Something that surely shines out of all Scriabin's late music is concision (think of "Vers la flamme", one of the most intensely ecstatic piano pieces that exists, which is less than five minutes long), and Nemtin doesn't seem to have taken this on board. It doesn't seem to me that there's enough material in Scriabin's sketches to make a piece on the scale of the score Ashkenazy performs, so that a lot of it comes across, to me anyway, as padding.

I was just listening to the Boulez Poème. Does it sound more like Debussy in the opening few minutes (before the first trumpet solo) than it ought to? It's beautiful though, and more subtle in balance and timbre than most performances I've heard.