# Scriabin: The Ultimate Poem



## Richannes Wrahms (Jan 6, 2014)

Through the magic of the Free Audio Editor (www.free-audio-editor.com) and the possibilities of Scriabin's harmonic writing, I "rediscovered" that his greatest orchestral masterworks are actually two perspectives of the same thing.

I used the option "Mix file" to merge Scriabin's Prometheus :devil: with The Poem of Ecstasy:angel: (Pierre Boulez with Anatol Ugorski and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra) thus creating Scriabin's ultimate poem. I actually like it as much as the individual pieces, it's fuller and yet it doesn't sound like a mess. I was going to upload it but I don't want to deal with the copyright thing.

I've also tried reversed Brahms's Symphonies and Bach's Brandenburg concertos which sound (except for the dynamics obviously) very similar either backwards or forwards, and Sibelius's Symphony No.1 which sounds quite nice when reversed. Mahler's 1 + 9 also sounds interesting when "mixed", not as good as this Scriabin but not bad.

Have you ever done something similar? I challenge you to try it and give it a listen, then comment your perspective in this thread.:tiphat:


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## brianvds (May 1, 2013)

You should try reversing some New age music. I am told it makes no difference. 

And perhaps some Schoenberg?


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## Richannes Wrahms (Jan 6, 2014)

Does Ligeti count as New age? 
I'll try Schoenberg later, since he does mostly "Brahms stuff" with his material I don't expect it to sound very different. Reversed R.Strauss's Metamorphosen sounds strangely uplifting.


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## brianvds (May 1, 2013)

And then one should also try out Justin Bieber. Apparently, if you play his music backwards, you hear the voice of Satan. But if you play it forwards, it is much, much worse, because then you hear the voice of Justin Bieber.


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## Richannes Wrahms (Jan 6, 2014)

But I would need to buy one of her "songs" to reverse it which is something I'm not willing to do. I can't stand neither her constant use of sharp unprepared dissonance nor her highly developed chromatic voice leading...


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## DeepR (Apr 13, 2012)

Since I love both pieces to death it would be sort of sacrilege for me.  But I like the idea of editing/mixing and playing around with recordings. I'd probably time-stretch stuff into ambient all the time.


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## brianvds (May 1, 2013)

Richannes Wrahms said:


> But I would need to buy one of her "songs" to reverse it which is something I'm not willing to do. I can't stand neither her constant use of sharp unprepared dissonance nor her highly developed chromatic voice leading...


Well, you could perhaps find pirate copies on YouTube to vandalize. 

In the meantime, it may be instructive to try out other experiments, e.g. greatly speeding up Beethoven's famous Moonlight sonata's first movement (and greatly slowing down the third movement!) Assuming the software can do that.


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## Richannes Wrahms (Jan 6, 2014)

edited due to double post


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## Richannes Wrahms (Jan 6, 2014)

DeepR said:


> Since I love both pieces to death it would be sort of sacrilege for me.  But I like the idea of editing/mixing and playing around with recordings. I'd probably time-stretch stuff into ambient all the time.


The Ultimate Poem is basically playing both pieces at the same time so there's little sacrilege, you get the trumpet from The Poem of Ecstasy and the piano (and those tutti chords) from Prometheus and everything makes surprisingly good counterpoint as the melodic fragments from each work fit like the pieces of a puzzle. The climaxes a complete revelation. I guess it's because it's all rooted on the "mystic chord". You know what? I'm starting to like The Ultimate Poem more than each half of it, I'm not even kidding.


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## brianvds (May 1, 2013)

When I was a kid they sometimes played pop music videos and concerts on TV. Then I would turn off the TV's sound and put on classical music. It was often very amusing, because here and there the pop musicians would seem to be playing in exactly the same rhythm, or assume appropriate expressions at all the right places.


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