Scriabin - Piano Music [Lisovskaya] 

This disc gets its third outing in my Blog [24th April 2012 & 1st April 2011], a nice once a year regular, this is a good collection to have, not immensely representative, it veers towards the Preludes side of things, but he also composed Mazurkas, Etudes, and Poemes, but it's a nice mix, there's gems aplenty, if you're new to Scriabin, then one thing about his music for the novice, is that all his compositions can sound fairly much the same, it takes extra listening to find the uniqueness of each piece, today i did a lot of groundwork to really appreciating these pieces for the future, i can feel Scriabin starting to seep into my soul.

Sophia Lisovskaya is Russian, she's now 36, and she made this recording in 2000, the front cover photograph is by Karen Kartashian, and it's a wonderful portrait, a side profile i guess, not far off turning her back to the camera, as if she's caught from a session on the piano, just full of different shades of brown, almost a monotone shot, i like this portrait a lot, it's different and inventive.

Three pieces really took a shine to me, tracks 10, 15 & 23, here's a synopsis of each,
10 Prelude 8 [Op11/8] - A lovely surprise, i know the 24 Preludes Op11 fairly well, and Lisovskaya gives a selection of ten of them here, a nice mix, and this really stood out as something exceptional, marked Allegro Agitato, and in the fairly remote key of F Sharp Minor, it certainly lives up to the 'agitato' tag, the right hand sings in the treble, then has a jagged downward run, while the bass rumbles in the left, there's delicious turmoil there, lovely and restless, has to be heard to truly explain, a great little discovery for me today.
15 Prelude 1 [Op16/1] - One of the most gorgeous things Scriabin has ever done, i fell in love with this on a Lucille Chung disc, in some ways it sounds like Satie, but also a cross with the very best of Rachmaninov, the tune that the left hand conjures up is just stunning [0:12-0:45], something you can just float away on, very dreamily done, the amazing thing about it is Scriabin actually creates something more heavenly with it, the music turns to the treble keys to heighten their poetry [0:45-0:59], now that's one of those wow moments, and when the left hand opening returns [1:12+], it's a moment of pure magic, maybe it loses some of its specialness towards the end, but it's one hell [heaven!] of a creation.
23 Prelude [Op59/2] - Another amazing piece tucked away in his late oeuvre, Scriabin marks the score Sauvage / Belliqueux [wild / warlike], at first it's quite a complex muddle of things, but then it turns into these mysterious runs [0:31-0:51 & 1:25-1:45], full of the vague anchoring of any centre, and then it finishes almost in mid sentence, a great little piece once you get to know it.

Scriabin - Piano Works [Lisovskaya] 

This is a great little recital, instead of recording an organized set of works, Lisovskaya gives us a recital of bits and pieces, it's a great introduction to what Scriabin is all about, and also you can fit rather a lot of individual short miniatures onto a disc, Scriabin has the tendency to repeat himself and his ideas all over the place, so even when you hear another piece, you can be forgiven for thinking, 'haven't i heard this one already', but amongst a big selection like this, there's also truly unique gems to be heard, my only quibble is that Lisovskaya could have given us a greater variety of pieces to choose from, it mainly consists of Preludes and pieces, so why not Mazurkas and Waltzes?, but it's a fine recital all the same, this is the second time that this disc appears in my Blog [1st April 2011].

Scriabin - Piano Music [Lisovskaya] 

I'm not sure where i bought this disc, but one look at the cover, and i had to get it!, a young woman draped over a piano, with plain colour tones of brown and black, a superb photogenic shot [by Karen Kartashian], a nice shot of angles and perspective, well done to BIS for this recital.

Sophia Lisovskaya is Russian, born in 1976, she's now 34, she made this recording in 2000, a strange recital of bits and bobs of Scriabin, a whole Sonata, Ten of the 24 Preludes Op11, and short pieces here and there, neither one of something, nor two of something else, but it's a great introduction to the piano world of Scriabin, and a nice addition to my own Scriabin library.

In playing the whole of this recital today, i enjoyed tracks 4, 10, 12, 15 & 18 the most, and i was especially enchanted by track 15, the Prelude Op16/1, it reminds me of Satie in a way, it's a rather sad little piece, almost Scriabin's 'Raindrop Prelude', i can just imagine the scene with someone longingly looking out the window, with raindrops trickling down, the left hand plays a bass intro, but it's the right hand treble that steals your heart away [0:12], yes it's like a Gymnopedie, and the treble tune is truly glorious, so aching and bewitching, and there's a great emphasis on the first note when the essence of the little tune is repeated [0:29], a superb emphasis that takes my breath away, the development of the tune is also so incredible, mid and upper keyboard play a little duet, lovely bell tolling sounds in the treble [0:45], the opening right hand treble is repeated [1:12], and it's gorgeous to hear this again, and there's a section where the first beat of every bar in the treble is accentuated to a dreamy effect [1:44-2:11], it rises and falls in expression, with a zenith in the high treble at [1:58], before it slowly comes down to earth again, Scriabin certainly knows how to weave a tune around your heart!. 

Here's young Miss Cristina Lan playing the Prelude Op15/1 on YouTube, a little bit too quick, and not quite enough emphasis on those high treble notes, but incredible nonetheless.

Scriabin - 21 Mazurkas [Pizarro] 

This is the first time Scriabin appears in my Blog, his piano music has that ethereal mysticism about it, almost as if he as a Composer purposely took a different path from what others had done before him, one of the things i notice about these Mazurkas as i played them again, is how much Scriabin had a great tendency to repeat himself, some of these pieces sound very similar!, as if he couldn't break free and create something truly uniquely original, there's deja-vu all over the place!.

Artur Pizarro is Portuguese, born in 1968, and now 42 years old, he recorded this disc back in 1993, the front cover is really quite bland, but pleasing enough i guess.

My favourite Mazurka has always been Op25/8 [track 18], it has a certain 'John Ireland' about it, and it could easily have come from his pen, it's quite an individual Mazurka, however, on this listen i was taken aback with the earlier Op3/4 [track 4], which actually sounds very much like a Chopin Waltz!, very bright and cheerful and tuneful, at the opening [0:00-0:18] i can just imagine a sweet couple gently gliding across the floor to this waltzy opening, it's such an innocent and unassuming theme to the whole piece, and it's the constant return of this opening tune again and again [0:44, 2:59 & 3:44] that makes it such a joy to listen to, there's a central section which plays a new very lyrical and slow variation of the opening theme [1:12-2:59], and within this it has a central section which is darker, agitated and troubled [2:04-2:24], altogether a brilliant little piece of music from an underestimated Composer who should be known even better.

Here's Artur Pizarro playing Mazurka Op3/4 on YouTube.