# Scriabin



## Nevum (Nov 28, 2013)

He was an unbelievable composer. Clearly the top Russian composer (in my opinion) of all times. 

For Scriabin funs - What do you consider his best composition?

Vers la flamme?
Poem of ecstacy?
Symphony 1 or 2 or 3?
Mysterium?

Something else?


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## mstar (Aug 14, 2013)

(Just a suggestion - maybe this should be in the Composer Guestbooks subforum?)


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## Cosmos (Jun 28, 2013)

Especially since Scriabin already has a thread in the Composer Guestbooks,

I'm not sure what his "best" work would be, but two of my favorites that are also held in high esteem by other listeners are the Sonata 5, and the Poem of Ecstasy [already mentioned]


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## Huilunsoittaja (Apr 6, 2010)

Well if you want to limit this thread to specifically a discussion of _favorite _works and not his works in general, it can stay here. Otherwise, I'd just continue these sentiments there. Guestbooks are legitimate places for questions!

http://www.talkclassical.com/13794-alexander-scriabin-10.html

I love Scriabin so much that it varies what I consider my favorite work of his. I wrote a paper on the _Poem of Ecstasy_ because I found it thematically and formally a fascinating piece and I discovered things about Scriabin I didn't understand previously. If I'm just in a feel-good mood though, that piece is a little harsh, so I would say Symphony No. 2 for feel-good mood, and the late period miniatures/etudes for when I can take some dissonant barrage and dance in the _Flammes Sombres_...


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

We had numerous Boulez threads also.
O.T.

*Poem of ecstacy*


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## Nevum (Nov 28, 2013)

Huilunsoittaja said:


> Well if you want to limit this thread to specifically a discussion of _favorite _works and not his works in general, it can stay here. Otherwise, I'd just continue these sentiments there. Guestbooks are legitimate places for questions!
> 
> http://www.talkclassical.com/13794-alexander-scriabin-10.html
> 
> I love Scriabin so much that it varies what I consider my favorite work of his. I wrote a paper on the _Poem of Ecstasy_ because I found it thematically and formally a fascinating piece and I discovered things about Scriabin I didn't understand previously. If I'm just in a feel-good mood though, that piece is a little harsh, so I would say Symphony No. 2 for feel-good mood, and the late period miniatures/etudes for when I can take some dissonant barrage and dance in the _Flammes Sombres_...


Yes, specifically favorite works of Scriabin. Thats what I meant. Have you published your paper on the Poem of Ecstacy?


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## Huilunsoittaja (Apr 6, 2010)

Nevum said:


> Yes, specifically favorite works of Scriabin. Thats what I meant. Have you published your paper on the Poem of Ecstacy?


Nah, it was just for an undergrad 20th Century Compositional Techniques class. I can post it as a set of blogs if you like. It's quite long, 12 pages) and included a short biography of him at the beginning before going into the piece specifically.


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

I really enjoy his music when I'm Scriabin' floors. Helps pass the time.


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## ArtMusic (Jan 5, 2013)

I think the piano music are quite nice.


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## mstar (Aug 14, 2013)

ArtMusic said:


> I think the piano music are quite nice.


Agreed; the problem is a lot of it's considerably passionate with a tinge of depressiveness - at least that's how I see it - so I end up feeling "down" if I listen too often.


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## sloth (Jul 12, 2013)

I choose Prométhée.
Mysterium could have been his best work, there are a lot of great ideas in what remains


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## Xaltotun (Sep 3, 2010)

I'm in the process of becoming a big fan. I think he will end up as my favourite Russian composer, and the only Russian composer that I really really love!


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## MarkW (Feb 16, 2015)

When I was about 15, I heard the Symphony No.3 (Le Divin Poeme) live by the BSO in Symphony Hall and was overwhelmed. At that point there was no recording of it, so I waited patiently. In the early 1970s the Melodiya sub-label of Angel/EMI began introducing the Scriabin orchestral works by one of the Soviet Orchestra. Eventually the Third came out and I scooped it up eagerly, put it on, and was completely underwhelmed. Every time I've heard it since (I now have the Ashkenazy CD), I expect my taste will have changed, but it still produces the same effect -- endlessly recursive, kind of like the Franck Symphony. Makes me appreciate the BSO's then assistant conductor (Richard Burgin) for making it sound like music.


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## DeepR (Apr 13, 2012)

Piano Sonatas
Piano Concerto
Etudes, Preludes and other solo piano pieces such as Poemes, or the Fantasie, or Vers La Flamme...
Symphonies
Symphonic Poems
Everything! From Canon to Prelude op. 74. No. 5

Ok I choose... Prometheus! 
Muti/Philadelphia. My favorite recording and one of my absolute favorite pieces of music. The greatest, most powerful and most electrifying symphonic poem in existence (with Poem of Ecstasy as a close second).


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## Tristan (Jan 5, 2013)

Scriabin seems like he was way ahead of his time--there's never been another composer like him. Love the Poem of Ecstasy, Symphony No. 1, Piano Concerto, and his piano sonatas (especially #1 & 7). Originally I only knew his solo piano music, and I liked it fine, but once I discovered his orchestral music he quickly became one of my all-time favorite Russian composers.

Also, 1000th post!!!


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

sloth said:


> I choose Prométhée.
> Mysterium could have been his best work, there are a lot of great ideas in what remains


That's a good second one for me :tiphat:


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## GodNickSatan (Feb 28, 2013)

Prometheus and the Poem of Ecstasy are two of the greatest works ever written. I just wish he was more prolific in his orchestral writing, but luckily for us his piano music is also otherworldly. I hold the view that he was the creator of psychedelic music.


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## Chronochromie (May 17, 2014)

GodNickSatan said:


> I hold the view that he was the creator of psychedelic music.


That would be Berlioz.


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## Fugue Meister (Jul 5, 2014)

GodNickSatan said:


> Prometheus and the Poem of Ecstasy are two of the greatest works ever written. I just wish he was more prolific in his orchestral writing, but luckily for us his piano music is also otherworldly. I hold the view that he was the creator of psychedelic music.


Don't get me wrong I like Scriabin but this is giving him too much credit. I've always thought of him as the Russian Chopin and indeed his personal idol was Chopin. His piano music I love but when he takes to orchestral music he doesn't hold my interest as much..

To be fair I'll give Prometheus & Poem of Ecstasy another listen today but Poem for sure I've had disinterest in in the past and his symphonies are somewhat "meh" to me..


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## cliftwood (Apr 17, 2014)

While I respect Scriabin's works as outstanding, to place him on the same plateau of giant Russian composers such as Tchaikovsky, Shostakovich and Prokofiev is an extremely generous stretch at best.

I wonder how many of the participants here can agree with your nomination .


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## GodNickSatan (Feb 28, 2013)

Chronochromie said:


> That would be Berlioz.


Yeah, possibly. You could make the argument for both, but I'd still go with Scriabin. Also, Scriabin may have started out as the Russian Chopin, but he completely transformed as a composer. What at the time sounded like his late piano sonatas?


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## tdc (Jan 17, 2011)

GodNickSatan said:


> Yeah, possibly. You could make the argument for both, but I'd still go with Scriabin. Also, Scriabin may have started out as the Russian Chopin, but he completely transformed as a composer. What at the time sounded like his late *piano sonatas*?


I believe one of the main criticisms of Scriabin is that he was even using Sonata form at all at that time, nearly two decades after Debussy's harmonic and formal innovations of _Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune_.

I don't actually think there is anything wrong with that, I like the late Scriabin pieces. But I think Scriabin like Sibelius managed to find a unique compositional voice while staying fairly conservative for the most part.

As far as who was the first psychedelic composer I think its too subjective. Gesualdo and Dufay sound psychedelic to me at times.


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## DeepR (Apr 13, 2012)

tdc said:


> I believe one of the main criticisms of Scriabin is that he was even using Sonata form at all at that time, nearly two decades after Debussy's harmonic and formal innovations of _Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune_.
> 
> I don't actually think there is anything wrong with that, I like the late Scriabin pieces. But I think Scriabin like Sibelius managed to find a unique compositional voice while staying fairly conservative for the most part.
> 
> As far as who was the first psychedelic composer I think its too subjective. Gesualdo and Dufay sound psychedelic to me at times.


This is the first time I've seen Scriabin being described as "fairly conversative for the most part". Listen to the Piano Concerto from 1896 and then to Prometheus from 1910. Or compare his solo piano music from around the same periods. I can't imagine how such a drastic change could be described as "fairly conservative". Maybe a few aspects of his music are conservative, like the sonata thing (Prokofiev was still writing sonata's 30 years later), but otherwise he was anything but conservative.


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## violadude (May 2, 2011)

Fugue Meister said:


> Don't get me wrong I like Scriabin but this is giving him too much credit. I've always thought of him as the Russian Chopin and indeed his personal idol was Chopin. His piano music I love but when he takes to orchestral music he doesn't hold my interest as much..
> 
> To be fair I'll give Prometheus & Poem of Ecstasy another listen today but Poem for sure I've had disinterest in in the past and his symphonies are somewhat "meh" to me..


Agree about the symphonies being kind of meh. But those other two are fantastic, especially Prometheus for me.


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## tdc (Jan 17, 2011)

DeepR said:


> This is the first time I've seen Scriabin being described as "fairly conversative for the most part". Listen to the Piano Concerto from 1896 and then to Prometheus from 1910. Or compare his solo piano music from around the same periods. I can't imagine how such a drastic change could be described as "fairly conservative". Maybe a few aspects of his music are conservative, like the sonata thing (Prokofiev was still writing sonata's 30 years later), but otherwise he was anything but conservative.


Yes maybe he was a little bit of both, although to be clear I wasn't using conservative in a negative way. I don't think there is anything wrong with composing in a relatively conservative manner, its more important to have a distinct compositional voice and I think Scriabin certainly had that.


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## Bulldog (Nov 21, 2013)

cliftwood said:


> While I respect Scriabin's works as outstanding, to place him on the same plateau of giant Russian composers such as Tchaikovsky, Shostakovich and Prokofiev is an extremely generous stretch at best.


In my mind, Scriabin's major contribution was his solo piano music where he easily bests each of the three above.


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## EdwardBast (Nov 25, 2013)

Bulldog said:


> In my mind, Scriabin's major contribution was his solo piano music where he easily bests each of the three above.


Prokofiev's piano sonatas are among the most important contributions to piano literature in the 20thc, and there are a great many other excellent solo works in his oeuvre. Nothing easy about it. Solo piano music was not a central part of the others' output, so duh!


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## Medtnaculus (May 13, 2015)

His 5th sonata is easily my favourite of the set, though the 2nd closely follows.

If you like his stuff seriously check out Feinberg's set. They go above and beyond, and deserve far more praise and attention.

Boris Pasternak (author of Dr Zhivago) also composed an excellent sonata you may enjoy:





Florent Schmitt has a tone poem Reves which is very similar to the poem of ecstacy. It's another fantastic composition within his already superb output.


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## Classical Performances (Mar 8, 2016)

Nocturne for piano in D flat major (for left hand only) Op. 9 No. 2 is excellent.
A contemplative piece for a snowy spring day in New England.


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## tdc (Jan 17, 2011)

EdwardBast said:


> Prokofiev's piano sonatas are among the most important contributions to piano literature in the 20thc, and there are a great many other excellent solo works in his oeuvre. Nothing easy about it. Solo piano music was not a central part of the others' output, so duh!


Yes that actually is an interesting question - whose piano works are more impressive Scriabin or Prokofiev...tough to decide but I would probably give the edge to Prokofiev personally.


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