Alexander Scriabin (1872-1915)
Orchestral Works
Pierre-Laurent Aimard (piano), Julius Asal (piano)
Ema Nikolovska (mezzo-soprano), James Ley (tenor)
Danish National Concert Choir & Symphony Orchestra/Fabio Luisi
rec. 2023-25, DR Koncerthuset, Copenhagen, Denmark
Reviewed from a download
Deutsche Grammophon 4867954 [218]

As far as I can tell this release of the classic Scriabin orchestral works from the Danish NSO and Fabio Luisi is for streaming and downloading only, as I can find no mention of a CD release and couldn’t access a booklet at the time of the review. This is a shame, as I believe it is an important release enshrining some of the best Scriabin I have heard in a very long time. Some collectors of the physical product will no doubt feel that the lack of access to the music is to be lamented. Deutsche Grammophon present the music in (almost) chronological order from the tiny, atmospheric Rêverie and the Piano Concerto of the 1890s to the final Prometheus: The Poem of Fire of 1910. I applaud this logical programming which allows the listener to progress through those fifteen years and journey through the composer’s changing phases and growing assurance of his musical mission.

The performances in the set are uniformly excellent and the sound, like the previous Nielsen symphonies from these artists (review) is stunningly captured by Bernhard Güttler and Mikkel Nymand from concerts at the DR Koncerthuset in Copenhagen. Genoese conductor Fabio Luisi has really connected with these Danish musicians since he arrived as their principal conductor in 2017. Prior to that he had worked in German speaking environs: Leipzig, Dresden, Zurich, Vienna, as well as a famous period where he led the Metropolitan Opera in the 2010s. This Scriabin set was recorded over an 18-month period, and is now released now as the Danish NSO celebrate its centenary year. 

After the opening Rêverie (which should obviously open the program but actually post-dates the next work by two years) we have the Romantic masterpiece that is the Piano Concerto of 1896. This wonderful Chopinesque piece, rhapsodic and poetic, is played by the young Julius Asal, who I believe is still on the BBC New Generation Artists scheme and earlier this year won the Terence Judd-Hallé award. It is a beautiful performance that can stand with any in the catalogue. The central theme and variations movement is a clear highlight.

Scriabin’s Symphony No. 1 from 1900 is an ambitious six movement hymn to art. Beginning with a serene introductory murmuring we are soon under Scriabin’s spell as he interweaves those lovely rich melodies. His use of the woodwind, particularly the clarinet, is tenderly shaded and straight from the heart. He clearly loves the instrument’s timbre, played here by Johnny Teyssier. The Danish NSO, older readers will know, have a rich pedigree of wind players in their history. As well as Teyssier, the current line-up of front-desks includes Ulla Miilmann on principal flute and Eva Steinaa on oboe, and they do sterling justice to that legacy. The symphony in Luisi’s reading is expansive at 53 minutes but there are few longueurs and the sumptuous carpet he lays underfoot with those strings is captivating throughout, especially with these warm sonics. One could cite stormier accounts of the Allegro drammatico, but has the third Lento movement ever sounded as intoxicating as this? Does anybody else hear echoes of Rustic Chivalry in this movement, by the way (track 12: 4:15)?

Luisi and the Danes bring a bouncy fresh tilt to the little scherzo with its trio tripping hither, tripping thither. The fifth movement is Lisztian, as I believe it ought to be, and from there we get to the final choral eulogy in praise of music. The singers are perfectly caught with exquisite balance between stage and choir and a bloom around the soloists. The closing fugue is a fraction too ponderously paced, perhaps, but in the final reckoning the ending is very successful, capping off a tremendous version of the first.

Scriabin’s Symphony No. 2 followed soon after. Here, the composer uses Franck’s cyclic approach. The works’ five movements really feel like three, with the first and last two played attaca, framing a pastoral central movement. Scriabin was attuned in these years to Wagner’s doctrine of Gesamtkunstwerk. Unity is a theme, and the overall work impresses in its coherent symphonic form and argument more than its elder brother. The piece is grand, lavish and opulent, although Scriabin’s orchestration is quite modest compared with the works that followed this. Luisi lingers in the enchanting prologue of the andante with its recurrent motto ever present. Who can blame him with this wind section and those horns? The surge into the allegro brings drama and dynamism but these musicians never get carried away in the swirl and one feels always a steady hand on the tiller.

The wonderful middle movement of this work is helpfully tracked into four sections for us by DG (throughout the set the cueings are very intelligent). These idyllic vistas with bird chirrups and gentle harmonies, both exotic and mysterious, are, as you will perhaps have predicted by now, characterfully relished by the Danish NSO with playing of refinement and style. At 16 minutes, it may feel a trifle indulgent (see Rob Maynard’s helpful table here). I find it achingly beautiful, and I am sure Scriabin would have loved it. Turbulence is back with the scherzo with great contributions from the brass section and the lashing insistent strings pounding convincingly. The transition to the major key march of the finale can see abrupt sometimes. Scriabin was never entirely convinced. The march theme that pervades the movement seems not to entirely match what precedes it. Luisi enters into it wholeheartedly and unreservedly, anyway, as he should, ever the servant of the composer and the score. I really enjoyed the performance. At 48 minutes it is not overlong, and I think it is all judged well. There are some versions of the symphony that come in at around 40 minutes or even less. Gergiev was fleet with the LSO in 2014 (review) and I remember Neeme Järvi (review) taking it at a fair lick with the RSNO for Chandos back in 1985. The symphony is robust enough I think to take a variety of interpretative approaches.

The Divine Poem of 1904, Scriabin’s Third marked a breakthrough for him. In this and the remaining works in the program, Scriabin writes for a huge orchestra of triple woodwind, eight horns, five trumpets etc. The strings for this piece are laid out 16/16/12/12/8 which required some augmentation, I expect. The symphony – or, some may prefer, tone-poem – marks the first piece of Scriabin’s final phase of composition that would characterise the last ten years of his life. Here the music is perhaps more chromatic, more dissonant and definitely more programmatic. In The Divine Poem, Scriabin charts the evolution of the human spirit through struggles, to delight and ultimately to a divine realisation. The double motto we hear in the introduction consists of heavy fortissimo chords on tuba, trombone and low winds followed up immediately with a rising figure in the trumpet. In the allegro drive that follows we are presented with more ideas over a vast span, but the original motto underpins everything. Fabio Luisi keeps it moving along nicely, accentuating the light and the shade very deftly I feel. The heavy darker colour of this piece, and perhaps this movement in particular, gives opportunity for some sections in the orchestra to shine a little more than in the earlier works, I think. Principal trumpet Michael Frank Møller for one, deserves a mention in this work and in The Poem of Ecstasy for sure.

After that huge first movement (possibly Scriabin’s largest through composed piece) the next movement, another Lento, follows without any discernible break. Here, the music reaches an ecstatic zenith. Scriabin’s orchestration is masterly. Horns cry out in track 31 (3:40) in transported exultation and from 5:01 the orchestra dissolves into an ensemble of soloists. It is truly voluptueux in sound, as Scriabin must have wanted. The finale is a cosmic dance into which all involved dive headlong under the expert guidance of Maestro Luisi, culminating in a superb blazing climax in C major again. The Divine Poem in this set is yet another triumph. Luisi’s 44-minute running time is this time on the faster side of average. Muti and Sinopoli milked it a little more in their memorable versions of this luxurious score.

The final two pieces on the billing are the famous Le Poème de l’extase and Prometheus: The Poem of Fire. Both are short, only 20-minutes in duration, but contain a wealth of material and are written for giant orchestra. The better-known and more-often-heard Poem of Ecstasy gets a measured and well-proportioned performance, here. There is a lightness, mischievousness and a magical zest to the recording à la Dukas that I particularly enjoyed. I have already mentioned the tremendous contribution of the principal trumpet earlier. In Prometheus, we hear French pianist Pierre-Laurent Aimard join the orchestra and chorus in another vital intense reading. The piece is one great sweeping crescendo of colour and heroism. Let us remember, this was the piece Scriabin wanted presented with a kaleidoscopic light show. Moving from a shadowy opening with timpani rolls and low brass tones the span grows ever upwards, a procession from a thundery dark bass to the fervent euphoria expressed by the massed voices ad libitum at the joyful end. Aimard plays sensitively and his light touch is caught perfectly in track 40. As the narrative moves forwards to more uncertain, more dissonant territory, he exemplifies the très accentués markings accomplishedly. Luisi gets the sweeping wave motion effect very well. This is a very fine Prometheus.

A new Scriabin set then for the 2020s, I think, offering superb sound and excellent ensemble, articulation and vision throughout the whole set. In the digital CD age, we have been blessed with compendiums of this music from Segerstam, Muti and Ashkenazy in the first period and Gergiev (2014) and Vasily Petrenko (2015-17) latterly. None are finer than this set from the yellow label which for me is now my number one recommendation for these works. What a shame that DG are not putting it out on CD too.

Philip Harrison

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Contents
Rêverie, Op. 24
Piano Concerto in F sharp minor, Op.20
Symphony No.1 in E, Op.26
Symphony No.2 in C minor, Op.29
Symphony No.3 in C minor, Op.43 – “Le Poème Divin”
Le Poème de l’extase, Op. 54
Promethée, le poème du feu, Op. 60