The Russian composer Alexander Scriabin is part of the long list of talented composers who left this world at an early age without seeing their most daring projects come to fruition."Mysterium" was the name of his last work, a piece of grandiose characteristics that would last a whole week, destined to be premiered in the foothills of the Himalayas, incorporating the senses of sight, sound, smell, and touch. After the premiere – the author believed – the world would end, vanishing amid great joy, giving way to a new human race composed of nobler beings.
Impossible to say that Scriabin did not aim high. But fate was not with him. Alexander Scriabin died in Moscow at 43 from septicemia caused by a mosquito bite.
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| Alexander Scriabin (1872 - 1915) |
Simultaneously with his mystical stage, the author also flirted with dodecaphony at the end of his life. But in his beginnings, as a piano virtuoso, he was influenced by the romantic pianists of the first half of the 19th century. It is a period in which he wrote mainly for the piano, working in the genres that Chopin used without rest: preludes, nocturnes, and studies written in an openly tonal language. Unusual textures and harmonies will come later.
He also wrote sonatas and a Piano Concerto but is today remembered mainly for his earliest works, which today turn out to be essential pieces of the piano repertoire, among them the 24 Preludes of Opus 11, brimming with lyricism and poetry.
Also noteworthy for their precocity are the Three Pieces of Opus 2, a set of three Etudes written in the period 1887-1889, the first of them when the author was fifteen years old, at a time when, of course, he was a fervent admirer of Chopin and Liszt.
Etude Opus 2 No 1, in C sharp minor
The influence of the Polish musician is undeniable here. Moreover, it is not difficult to guess Chopin's Etude which is inspired by: No. 7 of Etudes Opus 25, those dedicated to Marie d'Agoult, Liszt's partner at the time.
The harmonies are "Chopinian" and so is the emotional tone of the piece. However, the melody brings to mind, characteristically, Russian gypsy music, for its exoticism, somewhat melancholic. It is a slow and rather somber piece, yet, in its scarce three minutes of length, it presents the interpreter with no few difficulties while offering the listener an undeniable attraction.
The performance is by the Russian master Vladimir Horowitz.
