vagfilm Speaking of Hyperion: @CyberGene what is your take on Piers Lane sets of Scriabin Etudes and Preludes. I like both recordings a lot, but I am clueless on Scriabin...
Haven't listened to it. It's a good opportunity to give it a go now that Hyperion is on streaming but unfortunately I don't see it yet. I guess they are still bringing the entire catalog into the streaming service.
Frankly, I am not sure what is a good Scriabin interpretation. As a late comer to the Scriabin genius I mostly trust my own understanding, or should I say expectations, of how Scriabin should be played but that might not follow any traditions. That being said, I find the old masters bring me a lot of joy. Of course, Sofronitsky comes to mind since he's a well known Scriabin interpreter and was married to his daughter, although after Scriabin's death and so they never actually met.
Not sure how the following will sound, since it's a bit of a hot topic nowadays but I think from what I've listened so far, the Russian pianists play Scriabin best to my ears. I tend to stay neutral regarding the war in Ukraine, so not saying this to somehow promote Russian culture 🙂 (Can't believe I have to make disclaimers like that but I've already met some controversy with friends of mine who suggested my love for Russian composers: Scriabin, Shostakovich, Tchaikovsky, etc. is not sincere 😕). I guess Scriabin is rather obscure composer and not the first choice of many famous pianists which is probably why his music legacy and interpretation traditions has stayed for a lot of time within his homeland mainly which would be a natural explanation why there are many Russian pianists choosing Scriabin, and as a result, why they play it well, at least in my opinion. And my opinion is rather based on my Slavic soul and intuition, if I may call it this way 😀 As a Bulgarian, that type of music (I mean his early works that are very accessible and almost Chopin-like) is close to my soul which is why I got hooked to it. The paradox is Scriabin is often associated with his late, and very abstract, almost atonal sounding, pieces, so not many people know his early works. Apologies for the long post.
