Your basket:
There are no items in your basket.
Use the Buy? buttons across the site.
The following discounts will be applied:
over £20 for 10% discount on whole order
over £40 for 15% discount on whole order
over £60 for 25% discount on whole order
(P&P free on almost all orders.)
Bookmark and Share
Click album cover to view larger version
CDA67057/8
2CDs


Recording details: June 2000
Henry Wood Hall, London, United Kingdom
Produced by Amanda Hurton
Engineered by Tony Faulkner
Release date: February 2001
Total duration: 121 minutes 55 seconds

'Lane's flawless finger and inspired brain are totally attuned to Scriabin's hyper-expressive sound world. Gorgeous, flattering sonics help elevate this recording to reference version status among complete Scriabin cycles. Bravo!' (Classics Today, USA)

'Lane's technical brilliance and assurance captures the most elusive qualities of this music, as one dream-vision dissolves into another … [his] control and balance of their veiled sonorities is wonder-filled' (The Times)

'Lane is the perfect guide to Scriabin’s shimmering miniature masterpieces' (The Independent)

'Piers Lane is easily the master of all this … you get the sense this music is in his blood. The preludes have been well worth waiting for' (Amazon.co.uk)

Lane certainly knows how to tease out the music's textural subtleties; his emotional commitment is undeniable, as is his grasp of the poetic/virtuosic dichotomy inherent in Scriabin's music' (BBC Music Magazine)

'Everything about this two-disc set is ideal. Few pianists could show more sympathy and affection for such volatile romanticism, or display greater stylistic consistency. This new set of the Preludes should be in any serious record collection' (Gramophone)

'To find contemporary performances that convey … aspects of the music more vividly and with greater sympathy, as well as with a good deal more technical refinement, one need look no further than Piers Lane’s recent transversal' (International Record Review)

Alexander Scriabin (1872-1915)
Complete Preludes
Piers Lane (piano)
LISTEN TO ALL EXTRACTS
Three Pieces, Op 2
CD1
1
No 2: Prelude in B major  [0'55]
Two Pieces for Left Hand, Op 9
2
No 1: Prelude in C sharp minor  [3'14]
Twenty-Four Preludes, Op 11
3
No 01 in C major: Vivace  [0'49]
4
No 02 in A minor: Allegretto  [1'59]
5
No 03 in G major: Vivo  [0'49]
6
No 04 in E minor: Lento  [2'03]
7
No 05 in D major: Andante cantabile  [1'29]
8
No 06 in B minor: Allegro  [0'42]
9
No 07 in A major: Allegro assai  [0'53]
10
No 08 in F sharp minor: Allegro agitato  [1'06]
11
No 09 in E major: Andantino  [1'33]
12
No 10 in C sharp minor: Andante  [1'12]
13
No 11 in B major: Allegro assai  [1'41]
14
No 12 in G sharp minor: Andante  [1'26]
15
No 13 in G flat major: Lento  [1'36]
16
No 14 in E flat minor: Presto  [0'57]
17
No 15 in D flat major: Lento  [2'12]
18
No 16 in B flat minor: Misterioso  [1'35]
19
No 17 in A flat major: Allegretto  [0'40]
20
No 18 in F minor: Allegro agitato  [0'55]
21
No 19 in E flat major: Affettuoso  [1'13]
22
No 20 in C minor: Appassionato  [1'02]
23
No 21 in B flat major: Andante  [1'43]
24
No 22 in G minor: Lento  [1'05]
25
No 23 in F major: Vivo  [0'32]
26
No 24 in D minor: Presto  [0'44]
Six Preludes, Op 13
27
No 1 in C major: Maestoso  [2'30]
28
No 2 in A minor: Allegro  [0'41]
29
No 3 in G major: Andante  [1'20]
30
No 4 in E minor: Allegro  [1'09]
31
No 5 in D major: Allegro  [1'08]
32
No 6 in B minor: Presto  [1'20]
Five Preludes, Op 15
33
No 1 in A major: Andante  [3'58]
34
No 2 in F sharp minor: Vivo  [0'49]
35
No 3 in E major: Allegro assai  [1'03]
36
No 4 in C sharp minor: Andantino  [1'38]
37
No 5 in C sharp minor: Andante  [1'29]
Five Preludes, Op 16
38
No 1 in B major: Andante  [2'58]
39
No 2 in G sharp minor: Allegro  [1'22]
40
No 3 in G flat major: Andante cantabile  [1'59]
41
No 4 in E flat minor: Lento  [1'20]
42
No 5 in F sharp major: Allegretto  [0'34]
Seven Preludes, Op 17
CD2
1
No 1 in D minor: Allegretto  [1'22]
2
No 2 in E flat major: Presto  [0'55]
3
No 3 in D flat major: Andante  [1'53]
4
No 4 in B flat major: Lento  [1'25]
5
No 5 in F minor: Presto  [1'07]
6
No 6 in B flat major: Andante doloroso  [2'26]
7
No 7 in G minor: Allegro assai  [1'08]
Four Preludes, Op 22
8
No 1 in G sharp minor: Andante  [1'30]
9
No 2 in C sharp minor: Andante  [1'07]
10
No 3 in B major: Allegretto  [1'00]
11
No 4 in B minor: Andantino  [1'07]
Two Preludes, Op 27
12
No 1 in G minor: Patetico  [2'00]
13
No 2 in B major: Andante  [1'00]
Four Preludes, Op 31
14
No 1 in D flat major / C major: Andante  [2'09]
15
No 2 in F sharp major: Con stravaganza  [0'55]
16
No 3 in E flat major: Presto  [0'33]
17
No 4 in A flat major: Lento  [1'28]
Four Preludes, Op 33
18
No 1 in E major: Crotchet = 96  [1'32]
19
No 2 in F sharp major: Vagamente  [1'25]
20
No 3 in C major: Crotchet = 88  [0'30]
21
No 4 in A flat major: Ardito, bellicoso  [0'48]
Three Preludes, Op 35
22
No 1 in D flat major: Allegro  [0'50]
23
No 2 in B flat major: Elevato  [3'23]
24
No 3 in C major: Scherzoso  [1'03]
Four Preludes, Op 37
25
No 1 in B flat minor: Mesto  [2'02]
26
No 2 in F sharp major: Maestoso, fiero  [0'56]
27
No 3 in B major: Andante  [2'03]
28
No 4 in G minor: Irato impetuoso  [0'55]
Four Preludes, Op 39
29
No 1 in F sharp major: Allegro  [0'51]
30
No 2 in D major: Elevato  [1'30]
31
No 3 in G major: Languido  [1'17]
32
No 4 in A flat major: Crotchet = 63-66  [1'00]
Three Pieces, Op 45
33
No 3: Prelude in E flat major. Andante  [1'24]
Four Preludes, Op 48
34
No 1 in F sharp major: Impetuoso fiero  [0'31]
35
No 2 in C major: Poetico con delizio  [1'26]
36
No 3 in D flat major: Capricciosamente affannato  [0'50]
37
No 4 in C major: Festivamente  [0'46]
Three Pieces, Op 49
38
No 2: Prelude in F major. Bruscamente irato  [0'45]
Four Pieces, Op 51
39
No 2: Prelude in A minor. Lugubre  [2'30]
Four Pieces, Op 56
40
No 1: Prelude in E flat major. Violent, très accentué  [0'51]
Two Pieces, Op 59
41
No 2: Prelude. Sauvage, belliqueux  [1'31]
Two Preludes, Op 67
42
No 1: Andante  [1'50]
43
No 2: Presto  [1'01]
Five Preludes, Op 74
44
No 1: Douloureux, déchirant  [1'09]
45
No 2: Très lent, contemplatif  [1'34]
46
No 3: Allegro drammatico  [0'40]
47
No 4: Lent, vague, indécis  [1'36]
48
No 5: Fier, belliqueux  [0'58]
Following his acclaimed recording of Scriabin's complete Etudes (Hyperion, CDA66607), Piers Lane now gives us the complete Preludes. The performances are bold and compelling, matching technical bravura with a rich vein of poetry and colour, communicating Scriabin's vivid and exceptional imagination. Beautifully recorded and superbly annotated by Simon Nicholls, this new two-disc set is a must for all lovers of Scriabin and the piano. Scriabin was by natural inclination a miniaturist, and he composed short piano pieces throughout his life. His Preludes - fleeting evocations sometimes less than a page in length - foreshadow the Visions fugitives of Prokofiev and are descendants of the equally compact Preludes of Chopin. Like a musical Fabergé, Scriabin is capable of creating a glittering world in a tiny space; the exquisite writing reflects the composer's own subtle pianism, which he liked to describe as 'crystalline' and 'perfumed'. The poetic diversity of these miniatures creates a fascinating programme, ranging from volcanic energy and disturbing violence to haunting stillness and atmospheric illusion.