Classical Music Playlist, September 27, 2024
Composer-pianist Alexander Scriabin (1872-1915)
"No composer has had more scorn heaped on him or greater love bestowed." That's how The Great Soviet Encyclopedia describes the legacy of Russian composer Alexander Scriabin. In his biography of Scriabin, Faubion Bowers wrote "No one was more famous during their lifetime, and few were more quickly ignored after death."
During his lifetime his contemporaries noted that he showed signs of mental instability early on: he alienated his teachers like Sergei Taneyev and Anton Arensky who flunked him. Rimsky-Korsakov said he was “self-opinionated, warped, strange and distorted.” He began to announce to friends that he was the Messiah, and his visions grew increasingly bizarre (or simply artistic?). Later in life he planned a multimedia extravaganza at the foothills of the Himalayas to unite all inhabitants of the earth with his music.
Scriabin passed away in 1915 but contemporary pianists praise his only Piano Concerto as "like a dream" (Kiril Gerstein) and "unbelievably, insanely beautiful” (Nikolai Demidenko). It's today's Midday Masterpiece at 2:00 pm.