# Scriabin, the Final Mystery



## myaskovsky2002 (Oct 3, 2010)

I love Scriabin deeply...I think about the year of his death, 1915...This genious created a kind of dodecaphonic music before Schönberg did. His op. 74 is awesome...He started with Chopin and finished with very anguished music, terrible music...Always willing to complete the audio-visual _Final mystery_...Of course he never succeded...and the Final mystery is now sold as a CD-Box that is not what Scriabin had in mind. A mysteryious composer with a mysterious son, Julian who was a composer and died at 11 drawn in the Dniepr river. Attracted by India (like the Beatles...LOL)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julian_Scriabin

Many mysteries are sorrounding Alexandre Scriabin....Boris Pasternak, a writer and a composer remembers him when he was a child...and admired his music deeply:

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/zhivago/ei_pasternak.html

Married twice but not even divorced...may kids...

To be followed by you.

Martin PItchon


----------



## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

I've only got his _Poem of Ecstasy _on disc. At first I thought it was a poem of boredom, it took me many months (even a year or more) to more fully appreciate it. It's quite a passionate and sensuous piece, as the title suggests. Next, I want to acquire his _Prometheus_ and also some of the piano sonatas. I have never heard the former, and I remember borrowing a disc of the sonatas from the library about 15 years ago (& they sounded similar to me stylistically to Debussy, but perhaps more vigorous?). He was an interesting composer, who influenced other Russians like Roslavets. But of course, the Soviet authorities were not exactly accomodating vis a vis atonal type music. Roslavets was literally written out of the history books, and died in almost total obscurity. I'm not sure how the Soviets dealt with Scriabin's legacy. Maybe he was so "big" that he couldn't be obscured by propaganda as Roslavets so sadly was?...


----------



## myaskovsky2002 (Oct 3, 2010)

Contrary to general belief an artist is never ahead of his time but most people are far behind theirs" - Edgard Varese 
=====================================================
About this quotation...Wow! About Prometeus, I won't suggest you this right now. Start by his 3 symphonies, they are great, If you like the piano, start by his first opus and go gradually...you will feel as the melodic music starts to change and becomes less tonal...less from this earth....becomes more desperate...He was a genious! I vane never noticed so many progress in a single human been. I have ALL by him, I knew him about 25 years ago and I still like his music...all of it...His first opus are better than Chopin, just a bit more complex....his last are complex, deep, paradoxal and extremely sensual and sometimes sexual, The third symphony is a master piece...you cannot qualify this otherwise. His op. 74 for piano is also a masterpiece, the piano becomes a full orchestra, you are not listening a single piano any more, you are listening to an orchestra!!!!!! Those who don't know Scriabin don't know many things...They ignore beauty, sex, wildness.


Martin Pitchon


----------



## Fsharpmajor (Dec 14, 2008)

Andre said:


> I'm not sure how the Soviets dealt with Scriabin's legacy. Maybe he was so "big" that he couldn't be obscured by propaganda as Roslavets so sadly was?...


He died before the 1917 Russian revolution. (The 1905 one, as I understand it, was more populist and its resulting regime was less totalitarian). Given the nature of his music and the trend it was taking, I suspect that if he had survived into Stalin's time, he would have gotten into even more trouble than Shostakovich.


----------



## myaskovsky2002 (Oct 3, 2010)

*I agree with you André*

He died before the 1917 Russian revolution. (The 1905 one, as I understand it, was more populist and its resulting regime was less totalitarian). Given the nature of his music and the trend it was taking, I suspect that if he had survived into Stalin's time, he would have gotten into even more trouble than Shostakovich. 
=============================================================
Scriabin music goes beyond Shostakovich...Shostakovich waited until his 15e symphony to become again an "enfant terrible"...His wings were cut by Stalin and he decided to become a nice and popular man (his 5th symphony demonstrates that)...Scriabin...each page was more difficult than the former...He always was making new experiences...I know he was a braggart...But let me tell you that he was great...Hi was a prodigy child

"A lovingly crafted insight into one of the greatest of musical minds. Extensive excerpts from letters, postcards, and notebooks yields a startling account of Scriabins progression from child prodigy to poet, philosopher, and composer. However this is not just a biography, it's presentation is akin to a Scriabin Sonata, with structure yet diversity and surprise. A joy for all music lovers and a must for Scriabin fans. " (about a book about Scriabin)

_I am God_, he said once...Was he joking?

He wasn't God but he was illuminated by Him.

Martin Pitchon

:tiphat:


----------

