Trois morceaux, Op 52 (Scriabin) - from CDA67988 - Hyperion Records

Reviews

‘Today [Scriabin] enjoys a near classic status and Garrick Ohlsson’s disc of the complete Poèmes provides ample food for thought … his playing now reflects rich experience and musical quality … his empathy with so many fragmented dreamscapes is lucid and sensitive’ (Gramophone)

‘Scriabin's microcosmic soundworlds, powered by chains of augmented and chromatically liquefied harmonies, require a transcendental technique and the ability to conjure up simultaneously myriad differentiated sounds and textures. Ohlsson possesses remarkable facility … unleashes immense reserves of power … has the required delicacy of touch’ (BBC Music Magazine)» More

PERFORMANCE

RECORDING

‘Effortless virtuosity and total musical command’ (The Guardian)» More

‘Ohlsson plays with appropriate accuracy and wide gradations of touch. He uses the sustaining pedal sparingly and the damper to best effect where the phrasing calls for a firm staccato. His rhythmic control is excellent …’ (Audiophile Audition, USA)

‘Ohlsson, the pianistic prestidigitator, pulls it off again; a fine start to this centenary year’ (MusicWeb International)» More

‘Ohlsson need fear no comparisons. He has the technique for this music and sounds entirely in sympathy with it’ (MusicWeb International)» More

‘Ohlsson brings to these performances a clarity and level-headedness that perfectly complements the intoxicating power of Scriabin's music, and his exceptionally wide reach means that none of the technical demands are beyond his capability’ (The Europadisc Review)» More

‘Alexander Scriabin produced a steady torrent of miniatures between writing monumental pieces. American pianist Garrick Ohlsson gives an insight into the composer’s inner world in scintillating accounts of these varied Poèmes which were written over more than a decade’ (The Northern Echo)

«Grâce au pianiste américain, on entre à pas feutrés dans l'univers des Poèmes de Scriabine. La dimension fantastique et littéraire prend forme doucement dans un son rond et épais. Comme si par les couleurs de son Steinway, Garrick Ohlsson cherchait les diffractions lumineuses des poèmes orchestraux» (Classica, France)» More

„Ohlsson wird auch nie sentimental, versucht nicht, die Musik programmlich auszudeuten, wovor Scriabins erster Biograph, der Komponist und Schriftsteller Evgeny Gunst ja ausdrücklich gewarnt hat … alles in allem kann man schlussfolgern: so soll Scriabin klingen!“ (Pizzicato, Luxembourg)» More

„Garrick Ohlsson is an ideal interpreter of Scriabin’s music. With rather quick tempi, an unfailing sense for nuances and contrasts he always suggests that Scriabin was not a dreamer but a man living on the end of his nerves“ (Pizzicato, Luxembourg)

„Wenn man die Poèmes … einzeln oder paarweise hört, dann erkennt man, welch grandioser Interpret Ohlsson für diese Werke ist“ (Piano News, Germany)» More

PERFORMANCE

RECORDING

Of the Trois morceaux, Op 52, Nos 1 and 2 were written in 1907, and No 3 in 1905. In the Poème, Op 52 No 1, everything melts and slides; Énigme, Op 52 No 2, is the first piece to end without a resolution in the home key, and it had strong visual associations for Scriabin and Schloezer: ‘Some winged small being, not exactly a woman, not exactly an insect, but certainly of female gender; there is something spiny and wriggly about her, she is segmented in some way. And she is terribly mischievous, and in this mischief there is great coquetry’ (Sabaneev). The Poème languide, Op 52 No 3 (published in 1905 in the journal L’illustration), shows another aspect of the condition of languor which Scriabin considered to be the first stage of the creative process.

Concernant les Trois morceaux op.52, les deux premiers datent de 1907, le dernier de 1905. Dans le Poème op.52 nº 1, tout fond et glisse. Énigme op.52 nº 2 est la première pièce à se clore sans résolution dans le ton principal; Scriabine et Schloezer lui associent, en outre, de fortes images: «Un petit être ailé, ni tout à fait femme, ni tout à fait insecte, mais assurément féminin; il y a en lui quelque chose d’épineux, de frétillant, il est, si l’on veut, segmentaire. Terriblement malicieux aussi, et dans cette malice il y a une grande coquetterie» (Sabaneev). Le Poème languide op.52 nº 3 (paru en 1905 dans le journal L’illustration) dévoile un autre aspect de cette langueur que Scriabine tenait pour la première étape du processus créatif.

Von den Trois morceaux op. 52 entstanden Nr. 1 und 2 1907 und Nr. 3 1905. In dem Poème op. 52 Nr. 1 schmilzt und verrutscht alles; Énigme, op. 52 Nr. 2, hingegen ist das erste Stück, welches ohne Auflösung in die Grundtonart endet, und für Skrjabin und Schloezer rief es starke visuelle Assoziationen hervor: „Eine kleine Gestalt mit Flügeln, nicht Frau, nicht Insekt, allerdings zweifellos weiblich und segmentiert, stachelig und zappelig. Sie ist spitzbübisch und gleichzeitig kokett“ (Sabanejew). Das Poème languide op. 52 Nr. 3 (1905 in der Zeitschrift L’illustration herausgegeben) zeigt einen weiteren Aspekt des Zustandes der Trägheit, den Skrjabin als erstes Stadium des kreativen Prozesses verstand.

Recording details: December 2013
Henry Wood Hall, London, United Kingdom
Produced by Andrew Keener
Engineered by David Hinitt
Release date: February 2015
Total duration: 5 minutes 8 seconds

Cover artwork: The Cloud (1902) by Arthur Hacker (1858-1919)
© Bradford Art Galleries and Museums, West Yorkshire / Bridgeman Images

Trois morceaux, Op 52

Garrick Ohlsson (piano)

Reviews

Introduction