Alexander Scriabin - Complete Poèmes (Garrick Ohlsson)

Information

Composer: Alexander Scriabin

1. Deux poèmes, Op. 32: No. 1 in F sharp major. Andante cantabile
2. Deux poèmes, Op. 32: No. 2 in D major. Allegro, con eleganza, con fiducia
3. Poème tragique, Op. 34
4. Poème satanique, Op. 36
5. Poème, Op. 41
6. Deux poèmes, Op. 44: No. 1. Lento
7. Deux poèmes, Op. 44: No. 2. Moderato
8. Trois morceaux, Op. 45: No. 1. Feuillet d'album. Andante piacevole
9. Trois morceaux, Op. 45: No. 2. Poème fantasque. Presto
10. Scherzo, Op. 46
11. Quasi valse, Op. 47
12. Trois morceaux, Op. 49: No. 3. Rêverie. Con finezza
13. Quatre morceaux, Op. 51: No. 1. Fragilité. Allegretto
14. Quatre morceaux, Op. 51: No. 3. Poème ailé
15. Quatre morceaux, Op. 51: No. 4. Danse languide
16. Trois morceaux, Op. 52: No. 1. Poème. Lento
17. Trois morceaux, Op. 52: No. 2. Énigme. Étrange, capricieusement
18. Trois morceaux, Op. 52: No. 3. Poème languide. Pas vite
19. Quatre morceaux, Op. 56: No. 2. Ironies. Vivo, scherzoso
20. Quatre morceaux, Op. 56: No. 3. Nuaces. Fondu, velouté
21. Deux morceaux, Op. 57: No. 1. Désir
22. Deux morceaux, Op. 57: No. 2. Caresse dansée
23. Feuillet d'album, Op. 58
24. Deux morceaux, Op. 59: No. 1. Poème. Allegretto, avec grâce et douceur
25. Poème-nocturne, Op. 61
26. Deux poèmes, Op. 63: No. 1. Masque. Allegretto
27. Deux poèmes, Op. 63: No. 2. Étrangeté. Gracieux, délicat
28. Deux poèmes, Op. 69: No. 1. Allegretto
29. Deux poèmes, Op. 69: No. 2. Allegretto
30. Deux poèmes, Op. 71: No. 1. Fantastique
31. Deux poèmes, Op. 71: No. 2. En rêvant, avec une grande douceur
32. Vers la flamme 'Poème', Op. 72
33. Deux danses, Op. 73: No. 1. Guirlandes. Avec une grâce languissante
34. Deux danses, Op. 73: No. 2. Flammes sombres. Avec une grâce dolente

Garrick Ohlsson, piano

Date: 2015

Label: Hyperion

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Review

Initially idolised by a small coterie, Scriabin was also vilified by those who placed reason above passion, clarity above obscurity. Today he enjoys a near classic status and Garrick Ohlsson’s disc of the complete Poèmes provides ample food for thought. Having notched up a huge array of recordings combined with an intensive concert career, his playing now reflects rich experience and musical quality. True, those accustomed to Horowitz’s incandescent response to Scriabin’s neurosis may feel themselves short-changed by Ohlsson’s restraining hand, by a more settled view of an unsettled genius. But there are admirable compensations in playing that can contain even Scriabin’s wilder, least accessible outpourings.

At the same time, even Ohlsson cannot entirely erase evidence of writing of such self-conscious liberation that it finally and ironically becomes caged in its own conventions. Whether frantic or remote, one poème becomes much like another and many of the composer’s more bizarre titles and instructions (‘Désir’, ‘Caresse dansée’, ‘Festivamente, fastoso’, ‘Etrange, capricieusement’, etc) come to seem like a form of desperation, of special pleading in the face of public and critical bafflement. But whether in the Scherzo, Op 46 (jocular in an ironic sense), in the gazelle-like leaps of the Poème ailé, Op 51 No 3, or in the one substantial offering, Vers la flamme, you feel grateful for Ohlsson’s refusal to indulge or over-reach. Finely recorded, his empathy with so many fragmented dreamscapes is lucid and sensitive.

-- Bryce Morrison

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Alexander Scriabin (6 January 1872 – 27 April 1915) was a Russian composer and pianist, renowned for his innovative contributions to classical music. He studied at the Moscow Conservatory under Anton Arensky, Sergei Taneyev and Vasily Safonov. Scriabin composed almost exclusively for solo piano and for orchestra. Initially influenced by Romanticism, his style evolved into more abstract and mystical realms, incorporating complex harmonies and unconventional scales. His most famous compositions include piano works like Etudes, Preludes, and Sonatas, as well as his symphonic work Prometheus: The Poem of Fire. 

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Garrick Ohlsson (born April 3, 1948) is an American classical pianist. Born in New York City, he studied with Sascha Gorodnitzki and Rosina Lhévinne at the Juilliard School. In 1970 Ohlsson became the first, and remains the only, competitor from the United States to win the gold medal awarded by the International Chopin Piano Competition, at the VIII competition. His repertoire includes no fewer than 80 concertos. Among his many recordings, Ohlsson performed Chopin's entire musical output on Hyperion Records, Busoni's five-movement Piano Concerto, as well as all 32 Beethoven piano sonatas for Bridge Records.

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