Muti and Scriabin

 

I often wonder if Scriabin's music is liked all that much.

I don't see his music programmed too often and his name seems to exist on the periphery of references.

Yet his orchestral music is powerful. Of course, there is a long journey involved in each of his symphonies, so only the most patient and dedicated will find success. I suppose this might be why his Poem of Ecstasy is his most popular orchestral work.

Scriabin is good at finding solid motivic material for the listener to latch onto however, and I always appreciate his musical devices' development and return. Each symphony ends in a final, ecstatic, glorious paean, so there also is a bit of the explosive to his music, which often comes and goes in waves.

I hear Mahler in his birdsong and Liszt in his choral epilogue. I hear Wagner in his orchestral noodlings, and Debussy in his later orchestral colorings. And when Scriabin finds the trumpet and those quartals, we know as a listener, the composer has found his own personal footing as a composer.

All this prattling amounts to me saying Scriabin is a more than a worthwhile symphonist and contributor to the world of music. Sometimes his longueurs and slowly shifting movements go on too long, but there is always a beginning and end point, and I am always engaged.

This is why Riccardo Muti's contributions to the Scriabin cause is so important. He had a vision for this music, and Philadelphia was an important character in seeing that cause take flight. He may pull and tug at this music enough to make me a little seasick, yet I am enthralled.

Can I make a special mention of the late Joseph Flummerfelt and his special abilities with the choirs at the Westminster Choir College in Princeton, New Jersey. They were always a top-flight singing ensemble in whatever choral/orchestral recording you could find from them. The German Requiem with the NY Philharmonic comes immediately to mind, but they were at the beck and call of major orchestras since Stokowski, and with Flummerfelt at the helm, since the 70s. Rest in peace maestro!

A review from 2024

A collection of Alexander Scriabin’s five symphonies from Riccardo Muti and the Philadelphia Orchestra have long been held in high regard. They have been packaged together a fair bit too - in the 90’s on EMI, another updated in the 00’s on EMI, and yet another later on Brilliant Classics.

This music secures a long-look at the progression of Scriabin’s symphonic development. The two early symphonies exhibit the long-breathed lines and epic scope of Wagnerian-style compositions alongside the daring musical storytelling of Liszt, while the two later symphonies, the Poem of Ecstasy and Prometheus: The Poem of Fire, are pure Scriabin. Hints of Debussy mixed with the Russian composer’s own brand of extended harmonies and rhythmic complexities inhabit the music. The third symphony is definitely a transitional piece, where one can easily hear what came before and what is yet to come from Scriabin’s creative pen.

Riccardo Muti’s outlook on Scriabin’s symphonies is a passionate one. The music practically throbs from the playing of The Philadelphia Orchestra from the mid-to late 80s, and while EMI’s sound is a tad mushy, it leans into Muti’s view of this music. The Italian conductor pulls and tugs at the music hard, so this is more of a Bernstein, heart-on-sleeve production than a clear-eyed clinical look; and it is thrilling!

There are a few other respected cycles of these symphonies - Ashkenazy has better sound, who adds Scriabin’s Piano Concerto into the mix, but is a little more dispassionate compared to Muti. Evgeny Svetlanov’s are performed scrappier and in rougher sound with his USSR orchestra, but may appeal to those looking for a more authentic Russian sound. Inbal and his German orchestra on Philips are more easy-going with the music, but never got around to recording Prometheus, Scriabin’s final symphonic statement.

For me, Muti will do just fine.

Listen on YouTube

 

Works
Symphony 1 in E Major, op. 26 (50.38)
Symphony 2 in C minor, op. 29 (48.06)
Symphony 3 in C minor, op. 43 'The Divine Poem' (48.25)
Symphony 4 'Poem of Ecstasy', op. 54 (20.02)
Symphony 5 'Prometheus, Poem of Fire' (20.47)

Soloists
Stefania Toczyska, mezzo-soprano
Michael Myers, tenor
Frank Kaderabek, trumpet
Dmitri Alexeev, piano

Ensembles
Westminster Choir
Choral Arts Society of Philadelphia
Philadelphia Orchestra
Riccardo Muti, conductor

Label: EMI
Year: 1991 / 2001
Total Timing: 3.08.14

 

 

Still a great set with an amazing vision of Scriabin's symphonies!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Find more Scriabin recordings HERE!