Alexander Scriabin (1872 – 1915), 3 Pieces, Op.49 (1905)
Performed by Valentina Lisitsa, Gordon Fergus-Thompson and Anna Gourari respectively
00:00 – No. 1 Etude
00:39 – No. 2 Prelude
01:23 – No. 3 Reverie
The two brief Études Op 49 No 1 and Op 56 No 4 date from 1905 and 1908 respectively, a period which leads through the completion of The Divine Poem to a very different orchestral masterpiece, The Poem of Ecstasy. Scriabin wrote many sets of short pieces for piano; these chart his development and sometimes inaugurated a new phase in his music. However, the three pieces of Op 49 led to a temporary break with the Belaiev publishing house: the firm refused to pay more than fifty roubles each for such short works, while the composer, short of cash, demanded double that sum.
Op 49 No 1 has a curious hopping gait, as if about to leave the ground—a later, abandoned project was a symphonic poem, Icarus—and its swiftly moving tonal centres and tritonal bass steps mark a further shift towards the late style. No 2, from the same year, is another outburst of ill-temper, emphasized by hammered rhythms. The reverie uses canorous sonoroties to sweep the same impression over the listener as much of his other music. Although these works are not of the best he has to offer, they are worth listening to and considering as the bridge between his former romantic style and later mystical voice.
