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Track(s) taken from CDA67057/8

Quatre préludes, Op 37

composer
1903

Piers Lane (piano)
Recording details: June 2000
Henry Wood Hall, London, United Kingdom
Produced by Amanda Hurton
Engineered by Tony Faulkner
Release date: February 2001
Total duration: 6 minutes 14 seconds

Cover artwork: Halos (1894) by Louis Welden Hawkins (1849-1910)
 

Reviews

‘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)

‘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)

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

‘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 traversal’ (International Record Review)

‘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)

‘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'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)
Op 37 opens with troubled soliloquy, but No 2 with its massive chordal writing is Scriabin at his most self-assured. Here, in the sixth bar, as Gottfried Eberle has pointed out, the ‘Mystic Chord’ is heard for the first time – that sonority which is unveiled fully in the Fifth Sonata – although it appears here conventionally spaced in thirds. No 3, a peaceful interlude, gives a respite before the wrathful gestures of No 4. The leaping octaves and tumultuous arpeggios here point directly to the late style.

from notes by Simon Nicholls © 2001

L’opus 37 débute par un soliloque inquiet, mais le no2, avec son écriture en accords massifs, révèle un Scriabine des plus confiants en soi. C’est là, comme le souligne Gottfried Eberle, que dans la sixième mesure se fait entendre pour la première l’«accord mystique» – cette sonorité dévoilée pleinement dans la Sonate no5 – même s’il y est énoncé conventionnellement en tierces. Paisible interlude, le no3 offre un temps de répit avant que n’entrent en scène les gestes courroucés du no4. Les sauts d’octaves et les arpèges tumultueux sont autant de signes annonciateurs de sa dernière manière.

extrait des notes rédigées par Simon Nicholls © 2001
Français: Isabelle Battioni

Op. 37 beginnt in bekümmertem Selbstgespräch, doch Nr. 2 mit ihrem massiven akkordischen Satz zeigt Skrjabin in besonders selbstbewußter Stimmung. Hier ist, wie Gottfried Eberle dargelegt hat, im sechsten Takt zum ersten mal der „mystische Akkord“ zu hören – jener Zusammenklang, der in der Fünften Sonate endgültig entschleiert wird –, nur daß er im vorliegenden Fall in konventionellem Terzabstand auftritt. Nr. 3, ein friedliches Zwischenspiel, gewährt eine Ruhepause vor den zornigen Gesten von Nr. 4. Die Oktavsprünge und turbulenten Arpeggien weisen direkt voraus auf den Spätstil Skrjabins.

aus dem Begleittext von Simon Nicholls © 2001
Deutsch: Anne Steeb/Bernd Müller

Other albums featuring this work

Scriabin: The Complete Préludes, Vol. 2
CDH55451
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