Scriabin: Piano Music - Poems, Waltzes, Dances

Xiayin Wang (Artist), Scriabin (Composer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Composer: Scriabin
• Audio CD (May 26, 2009)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Naxos
• ASIN: B0020LSWVQ
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #130,410 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Fanfare, Jerry Dubbins, Nov/Dec 2009

My encounters with the music of Alexander Scriabin (1872-1915) have continued to be somewhat sporadic. Needless to say, I'm familiar with his widely recorded, expansive orchestral scores--the "Divine Poem" and "Poem of Ecstasy" Symphonies, as well as his symphonic tone poem Prometheus, "Poem of Fire"--but his very substantial body of works for solo piano, really the bulk of his output, is pretty much terra incognita to me, despite the fact that I did review a disc of the composer's mazurkas played by Eric Le Van as far back as 27:5 and, more recently, a CD that contained his F♯-Minor Piano Concerto in 32:1.

Having listened to this new release from pianist Xiayin Wang, I simply cannot imagine how or why I have managed to avoid Scriabin's solo piano aeuvre for so long. The music here, and Wang's playing of it are of an exquisite beauty beyond description. There is no need to recap Wang's biography or credentials; Peter J. Rabinowitz interviewed her for a feature article and review in 31:3. The three Scriabin pieces on the Marquis CD reviewed by Rabinowitz--the Deux Poèmes, op. 32, the Waltz, op. 38, and Vers la flamme, op. 72--are duplicated on the present Naxos album.

Wang presents her program in opus number order, which happens to correspond to the chronology as well. As one listens to Scriabin's progress from his early Waltz, op. 1, written in 1886 to his Two Dances, op. 73, written in 1914, the year before his death at the age of 43, one is reminded to an extent of Heinrich Heine's skewering of French Romantic poet and playwright Alfred de Musset, calling him "a young man with a great future behind him." Scriabin's earliest pieces--waltzes, nocturnes, preludes, polonaises, etudes, and mazurkas--mirror Chopin with uncanny similitude. By 1903, considered a dividing point in the composer's life and the beginning of his middle period, we get works like the Poème tragique, op. 34, and the Poème satanique, op. 36. Scriabin's writing is now on a grander scale, taking on a more symphonic weight, with the heavy chording and kinds of keyboard figurations more typical of Liszt and even Alkan.

By the time we get to the end--the Two Dances, op. 73--Scriabin, physically ill and most likely mentally unstable, is now totally consumed by mysticism, theosophy, and his theories of synesthesia (color hearing) in which specific keys and tonal centers are related to specific colors and corresponding emotional states. His never realized final opus magnum, Mysterium, was to be "a multimedia work to be performed in the Himalayas that would bring about Armageddon, a grandiose religious synthesis of all arts which would herald the birth of a new world."

Scriabin's late piano pieces written around this time sound almost impressionistic, but not in a way that would be mistaken for Debussy. They are economical in material, built from minimal, somewhat static motifs, but quite extravagant in technical and expressive range. Vers la flamme is a good example. It's almost minimalist in its dependence on a single motivic gesture; but through cumulative piling on of keyboard sonorities rather than variation techniques, Scriabin maximizes its potential.

Pianist Xiayin Wang seems to have a very special affinity for Scriabin's music. But then she is not alone in being a proponent of these works. Both Ashkenazy for Decca and even earlier, Michael Ponti for Vox, essayed much of this repertoire. Ruth Laredo also made a significant contribution on Nonesuch, and Richter was by no means a stranger to Scriabin either. Still, there is something I find very appealing in Wang's playing. Her tone has a silvery quality to it, a lighter touch perhaps, that allows her to negotiate the more thunderous and tumultuous passages without sounding overly thick and heavy; and her approach in the quieter more lyrical pieces strikes me as quite poetic.

A beautiful recital by an up-and-coming young artist, captured in excellent sound by Naxos's recording team. Highly recommended.

Product Description

Numbered among the musical elect of her generation, the multi-award-winning Xiayin
Wang presents a recital of piano music that virtually spans Scriabin's career. The
mysterious impressionism of Vers la flamme (Towards the Flame) builds to an
exhilarating intensity that is matched by the two contrasting Poems. From his early
Waltzes and Polonaise, with their echoes of Chopin, via the rhapsodic abandon of the
Fantaisie, to the Two Dances, composed shortly before his death, these works chart an
almost mystical trajectory through the composer's life.

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good News, Bad News, June 23, 2009

By 

J Scott Morrison (Middlebury VT, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Scriabin: Piano Music - Poems, Waltzes, Dances (Audio CD)

Xiayin Wang (not to be confused with the better-known emerging Chinese pianist, Yuja Wang) has had the clever idea to record a CD of Scriabin piano pieces played in chronological order, beginning with two charming Chopinesque waltzes written when he was fourteen, and ending with Deux Danses, Op. 73, from the last year of his life. And much of the playing here is quite good. The little waltzes from his youth are played with charm and grace. The Polonaise in B Flat Minor, Op. 21, has the right amount of swing. But the big Fantaisie in B Minor, Op. 32, admittedly a loosely constructed work that can be hard to hold together, comes across as awkward, not thoroughly digested by Ms Wang. When we get to the Two Poems, Op. 32, one begins to hear more of the idiosyncratic and impressionistic Scriabin, but again there is some discrepancy in Wang's playing. The first Poem is simply gorgeous; the second -- the more dramatic of the two -- is played too bluntly, too brusquely. The same can be said for both the Poème tragique, Op. 34, and the Poème satanique, Op. 36. One gets the impression that Ms Wang is more comfortable in the dreamier, more soft-edged pieces as in her lovely playing of the Poème in D Flat Major, Op. 41. And so it goes.

The best known piece here -- and appropriately suggested as a theme of the entire album by Wang, whose booklet notes are helpfully informative -- is 'Vers la flamme' ('Toward the Flame'). This late piece has all of Scriabin's mysticism, his unique harmonies, his suggestions of darkness and brilliant points of light, and the beating of moths' wings. And Wang plays it beautifully, capturing its evanescent moods.

The CD ends with the Deux Danses, Op. 73, which came immediately after 'Vers la flamme', and they continue the exaggerated stillness and periods of manic activity of that work. Again, Wang is at her best.

To sum up: Wang's performances are somewhat uneven. There are patches of awkwardness and seeming incomprehension in the more overtly dramatic, flamboyant pieces. But she seems to relate best to the more static, harmonically elliptical works and does them well. She is given true-to-life piano sound by her engineer/editor Leszek Maria Woycik.

Scott Morrison

4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful pianist, great choices, September 12, 2009

By 

M. Flynn "Ksled" (Richmond, VA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Piano Music - Poems / Waltzes / Dances (MP3 Download)

Recording is well made. Selections are a nice array of Scriabin's piano works. Xiayin Wang's playing is energetic, inspired, technically brilliant.

3 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Scriabin Piano Music, December 8, 2009

By 

John Berger (Honolulu, HI) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Scriabin: Piano Music - Poems, Waltzes, Dances (Audio CD)

I bought this CD because Ms. Wang was coming to Honolulu and I knew I would be meeting her. I was not disappointed by her performance on this CD nor by her performance in concert.

To elaborate: Her interpretations of Scriabin's melodies are soothing and relaxing as background music, yet also sufficiently intricate and engaging to reward attentive listening when the mood strikes.