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The Young Scriabinists
September 10, 2000
Updated, June 25, 2001
My interest in this composer led me to read, certainly one of the finest biographies of anyone I have ever read, a story not only of the man, the musician, the pianist, but also of a time, a country (Russia before the Revolution) and of places as they were then, before The Great War. Faubion Bowers has written the definitive Sciabin biography.
Alexander Scriabin, 1872-1915, whose portrait here shows him at around the age of fifteen, while he was in attendance at a Russian military academy, where he distinguished himself for high intelligence, though he was never physically very strong, was one of the most remarkable composers of the last century. Scriabin; the peer of Rachmaninoff, the heir of Chopin and like him a "piano composer", the intrepid innovator, the erotic and mystical romantic, a prophet of things to come, including his own dissolution.
It happens once in a while that I seem to discover for myself the music of a particular composer and am caught by its spell for a time. Just lately this has been true of Scriabin's music. I seem to be going through "a Scriabin phase" and to be more particular, I am most attracted to his earlier and middle period music, before he took the plunge, as it were, into the etheric and infernal realms. In a very real sense, and for many of the same reasons, for those who associate great piano music with the works and style of Chopin, in a few years, as more of Scriabin's music becomes better known, they will associate great piano music with Alexander Scriabin as well. If Rachmaninoff was the musical extravert of the last flowering of the Russian romantic tradition, Scriabin was the introvert, the greater poet.
K.G.W. Russell has described Scriabin's end without getting the tremendous cosmic irony involved in it. Upon the outbreak of World War I, Scriabin, convinced that the war was about to bring about the end of the world, was planning the music for a great seven day multimedia event to mark the occasion, when as he was writing this apocalyptic music, he supposedly stabbed himself in the upper lip with his pen. The ink poisoned him forming a carbuncle and in an attempt to remove it, the poison spread throughout his blood causing his death. Russell also describes finding recordings of Scriabin actually playing his own works, describes getting the feeling from the old recordings as if telepathically communicated, but rambles on and on about the sound qualities of old recordings and fails to describe in any meaningful sense what Scriabin's playing was actually like. I will attempt to find these recordings and let all of you know more about them.
Since I posted this, the page which originally held these remarkable performances has disappeared. The person who may know most about what became of these recordings or what may become of them would probably be John Bell Young, an outstanding pianist in his own right, who has a remarkable album called Prisms available. The music which used to be on the page that disappeared was played by young Russian pianists who displayed a technique and emotional maturity far beyond their years. These young people are the winners of the Scriabin Museum Scholarships and range from 12 to 21 years of age! I certainly hope that more people get a chance to hear more from these young people.
Alexander Kulikov's (age 15!) performances of the, soon to be far better known, first and second Preludes Op 11, seem to me the equal of those by Mikhael Pletnev. Kulikov plays the first with more languor, keeping the texture always smooth and lush, while playing the second with slightly more intensity than is usual. His other performances are if anything even more spectacular.
Pavel Dombrovsky (age 16!) plays the Op. 5 Nocturne and Op 13 Preludes with a thorough conviction and mastery, as though he were again twice his age. These are pieces that convey the deepest feelings of sadness or happiness, with such a wide canvas of ecstatic utterance, in style similar to a mix of Chopin and Rachmaninoff with a dash of Debussy. They are as yet not well known. In time, however, they will become better known because they contain something very poignant, very special, real deeply felt emotions. But they are terribly difficult to play because they rely not just on the metric beats of each measure, but often as much or more on the execution of each phrase independent from the meter. This must be done in a manner without any saccharine sweetness or schmaltz of any kind. This music is all emotionally very serious; adult, and yet here it is being played superbly by young people. How different from most of the music listened to by most adults of today!
Polina Bogdonova is only 12! She plays an early Mazurka. Scriabin loved this form and used it often. The music is simpler than in Scriabin's later works, but still not child's play. Yet her playing is so un-childlike, controlled and mature, one can't believe one is listening to a twelve year old girl. She also plays the remarkably complex one page emotional gem called Desire, Op 57 #1. Who could play this any better than she? This music is not expressive of a child's desire for a toy, but the mature aching desires of adulthood. Simply amazing!
Sergey Sobolev (age 15!) is playing a piece that would tax my mature pianistic resources, as indeed all this music does, the Valse Op. 38. This is a remarkable piece, larger, more rhythmically complex, more impressionistic and much more difficult than any by Chopin. One occasionally hears references to the parlor music of the turn of the century, heard before the onset of the Great War. Similar references occur in a lot of Scriabin's middle period works right up to and including his wonderful fourth piano sonata (Op. 30). Again, this is being played by a fifteen year old!
There is much more that can be heard on this page. It is my sincere hope that these young people are recognized, given a much wider audience and are encouraged to play more of the remarkable legacy of piano music left to us by the enigmatic Alexander Scriabin whose music can only increase in popularity among cultivated music lovers over time. There is quite simply nothing else like it.
