Born: Jan 6, 1872; Russia
Died: Apr 27, 1915; Russia
Period: 20th Century
Mystic, visionary, virtuoso, and composer, Scriabin dedicated his life to creating musical works which would, as he believed, open the portals of the spiritual world. Scriabin took piano lessons as a child, joining, in 1884, Nikolay Zverov's class, where Rachmaninov was a fellow student. From 1888 to 1892, Scriabin studied at the Moscow Conservatory, where his teachers included Arensky, Taneyev, and Safonov. Although Scriabin's hand could notRead more easily stretch beyond an octave, he developed into a prodigious pianist, launching an international concert career in 1894. Scriabin started composing during his Conservatory years. Mostly inspired by Chopin, his early works include nocturnes, mazurkas, preludes, and etudes for piano. Typical examples of Romantic music for the piano, these works nevertheless reveal the composer's strong individuality. Toward the end of the century, Scriabin started writing orchestral works, earning a solid reputation as a composer, and obtaining a professorship at the Moscow Conservatory in 1898. In 1903, however, Scriabin abandoned his wife and their four children and embarked on a European journey with a young admirer, Tatyana Schloezer. During his sojourn in Western Europe, which lasted six years, Scriabin started developing an original, highly personal musical idiom, experimenting with new harmonic structures and searching for new sonorities. Among the works composed during this time was the Divine Poem.
In 1905, Scriabin discovered the theosophical teachings of Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, which became the intellectual foundation of his musical and philosophical efforts. In true Romantic tradition, he sought to situate his work as a composer in the wider spiritual and intellectual context of his age. Previously influenced by Nietzsche's ideas about the advent of a superhuman being, Scriabin embraced theosophy as an intellectual framework for his profound feelings about humankind's quest for God. Works from this period, exemplified by the Poem of Ecstasy (1908) and Prometheus (1910), reflect Scriabin's conception of music as a bridge to mystical ecstasy. While the ideas underlying his works may seem far-fetched, Scriabin's musical language included some fascinating, and very tangible, innovations, such as chords based on fourths and unexpected chromatic effects. Lacking an inner forward-moving force, Scriabin's later works nevertheless fascinate the listener by harmonic transformations which aim to reflect certain undefinable aspects of human consciousness. In addition, the composer, who strongly believed in the synaesthetic nature of art, experimented with sounds and colors, indicating, for example, lighting specification for the performance of particular works. Indeed, Scriabin's interest in color was hardly academic, considering that , as an orchestrator, he exploited the full potential of orchestral color. While Scriabin never quite crossed the threshold to atonality, his music nevertheless replaced the traditional concept of tonality by an intricate system of chords, some of which (e.g., the "mystic chord": C-F sharp-B flat-E-A-D) had an esoteric meaning. Scriabin's gradual move into realms beyond traditional tonality can be clearly heard in his ten piano sonatas; the last five, composed during 1912-1913, are without key signatures and certainly contain atonal moments. In 1915, Scriabin died in of septicemia caused by a carbuncle on his lip. Among his unfinished project was Mysterium, a grandiose religious synthesis of all arts which would herald the birth of a new world. Read less
Label: Decca
Catalog: 4831752
Release Date: 08/04/2017
Number of Discs: 48
Composer:
Sergei Rachmaninov,
Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky,
Johann Sebastian Bach,
Frédéric Chopin
...
Performer:
Vladimir Ashkenazy,
Keith Puddy,
Fou Ts'ong,
Daniel Barenboim
...
Conductor:
Anatole Fistoulari,
Lorin Maazel,
Kiril Kondrashin,
David Zinman
...
Orchestra/Ensemble:
London Symphony Orchestra,
Ambrosian Singers,
Chicago Symphony Orchestra
...
Label: Decca
Catalog: 4832253
Release Date: 08/04/2017
Number of Discs: 1
Composer:
Alexander Scriabin
Performer:
Vladimir Ashkenazy
Conductor:
Lorin Maazel
Orchestra/Ensemble:
London Philharmonic Orchestra,
Ambrosian Singers
Label: Sony
Catalog: 533636
Release Date: 04/07/2017
Number of Discs: 65
Composer:
Richard Wagner,
Richard Strauss,
Camille Saint-Saëns,
Ambroise Thomas
...
Performer:
Oscar Levant,
Robert Casadesus,
Isaac Stern,
Yo-Yo Ma
Conductor:
Willem Mengelberg,
Josef Stransky,
Arturo Toscanini,
Sir John Barbirolli
...
Orchestra/Ensemble:
New York Philharmonic
Label: Parnassus Records
Catalog: 96056
Release Date: 10/16/2015
Number of Discs: 1
Composer:
Ludwig van Beethoven,
Maurice Ravel,
Alexander Scriabin,
Richard Strauss
Performer:
Sviatoslav Richter
Conductor:
Kiril Kondrashin,
Riccardo Muti,
Yevgeny Svetlanov,
George Georgeseu
Label: Euroarts
Catalog: 2001944
Release Date: 04/28/2015
Number of Discs: 1
Composer:
Ludwig van Beethoven,
Franz Liszt,
Alexander Scriabin,
Luigi Nono
Performer:
Martha Argerich
Conductor:
Claudio Abbado
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra
Label: Sony
Catalog: 304505
Release Date: 08/05/2014
Number of Discs: 39
Composer:
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart,
Ludwig van Beethoven,
Felix Mendelssohn,
Robert Schumann
...
Performer:
Claudio Abbado,
Murray Perahia,
Anatoly Kotcherga,
Midori
...
Conductor:
Claudio Abbado
Recommendation
Label: Decca
Catalog: 001820202
Release Date: 04/02/2013
Number of Discs: 50
Composer:
Sergei Rachmaninov,
Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky,
Robert Schumann,
Ludwig van Beethoven
...
Performer:
Vladimir Ashkenazy,
Boris Belkin,
Daniel Barenboim,
Fou Ts'ong
...
Conductor:
Kiril Kondrashin,
Anatole Fistoulari,
Lorin Maazel,
Uri Segal
...
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra,
London Symphony Orchestra,
London Wind Soloists
...
Recommendation
Label: Vox Allegretto
Catalog: 8170
Release Date: 08/02/2011
Number of Discs: 1
Composer:
Alexander Scriabin
Performer:
Phillip Ruder,
Richard Giangiulio,
Alfred Mouledous,
Michael Ponti
Conductor:
Donald Johanos,
Hans Drewantz
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Dallas Symphony Orchestra,
Hamburg Symphony Orchestra
Label: Tudor Records
Catalog: 7025
Release Date: 06/29/2009
Number of Discs: 1
Composer:
Alexander Scriabin
Performer:
Evelyne Dubourg
Conductor:
Nicholas Uljanov
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Sofia Philharmonic Orchestra,
Bratislava City Choir,
Bratislava Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra
Label: Rca Victor Red Seal
Catalog: 38061
Release Date: 01/31/2008
Number of Discs: 1
Composer:
Dmitri Shostakovich,
Alexander Scriabin
Performer:
Vladimir Sokoloff
Conductor:
Eugene Ormandy
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Philadelphia Orchestra,
Mendelssohn Club Chorus Philadelphia
Recommendation
Label: Bis
Catalog: 1669
Release Date: 10/30/2007
Number of Discs: 3
Composer:
Alexander Scriabin
Performer:
Urban Agnas,
Love Derwinger,
Inger Blom,
Lars Magnusson
...
Conductor:
Leif Segerstam
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra,
Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Chorus,
Stockholm Philharmonic Chorus
Label: Arthaus Musik
Catalog: 101717
Release Date: 09/25/2007
Number of Discs: 1
Composer:
Alexander Scriabin,
Franz Liszt,
Ludwig van Beethoven,
Luigi Nono
Performer:
Martha Argerich
Conductor:
Claudio Abbado
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra
Recommendation
Label: Decca
Catalog: 000088102
Release Date: 08/12/2003
Number of Discs: 3
Composer:
Alexander Scriabin
Performer:
Brigitte Balleys,
Sergei Larin,
Peter Jablonski
Conductor:
Vladimir Ashkenazy
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Berlin RIAS Chorus,
Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin
Recommendation
Label: Apex
Catalog: 7430732
Release Date: 04/08/2002
Number of Discs: 1
Composer:
Alexander Scriabin,
Igor Stravinsky,
Sergei Rachmaninov
Performer:
Alexei Lubimov
Conductor:
Jukka-Pekka Saraste
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Toronto Mendelssohn Choir,
Toronto Symphony Orchestra
Label: Boheme Music
Catalog: 908087
Release Date: 12/19/2000
Number of Discs: 1
Composer:
Alexander Scriabin
Performer:
Alexander Goldenweiser
Conductor:
Nikolai S. Golovanov
Orchestra/Ensemble:
All-Union Radio Chorus,
All-Union Radio/TV Large Symphony Orchestra