Week 4(?) - Scriabin: Piano Preludes part II

I'm back! I know it's not really week 4 anymore but as I'm still planning to do 52 weeks worth of listening I've decided to keep the numbering going, I'll just have to go a little over an actual year.

I just listened to eight different pianists play the Op.74 preludes. There are five preludes in all, of short duration and without a key designation. The whole set lasts about seven and a half minutes. Hear are Scriabin's descriptors: I. Douloureux, déchirant (Pain, tearing) II. Very Slow, contemplative III. Allegro drammatico IV. Slow, vague, undecided V. Fier, belliqueux (Proud, warlike). I really can't do better in describing this music. It is music that pushes and pulls violently, that floats unanchored, that does not resolve or if it does, it does so uncomfortably. What a change in Scriabin's harmonic language from his early preludes! There are hints of this coming change in some of the earlier preludes but there are only two opuses of the preludes that don't designate a key; Op.67 and Op. 74.

The pianists I listened to were Chitose Okashiro, Lucille Chung, Emil Gilels, Evgeny Zarafiants, John Ogdon, Maria Lettberg, Roger Woodward and Vladimir Feltsman. As always, it is fascinating to hear different interpretations. I think for this music to really work and ignite the pianist must have a freedom of rhythm and be willing to push and pull and pause more so than he or she might do in another composers music. Gilels and Okashiro excel at this. Their rhythmic freedom plus wonderful voicing really make this music come alive. Of all the pianists they are my favorites. Odgon and Lettberg are also very fine. Chung's playing is too square for me and Zarafiants takes an approach more toward the middle. I found Feltsman rather unimaginative. This leaves Woodard, who I found perverse! His playing is clunky, with no feeling of the mystery, heat and passion that Okashiro and Gilels bring to the music. 

I did listen to all the preludes and some of the highlights from that listening, weeks ago, were Kissin playing Op.15, Olli Mustonen playing Op. 16, and Okashiro playing Op.37, 39 & Op.59 No.2.

Week 4 - Scriabin: Piano Preludes part I

What a modern miracle is technology! Sitting in my car outside a public library with my laptop connected to their Wi-Fi I just finished listening, on Spotify, to Mikhail Pletnev playing the 24 Preludes Op. 11 (1888 - 1896) of Alexander Scriabin (1872 - 1915) . What exquisite miniatures these are! They follow the same key structure as Chopin's 24 preludes (major key, then relative minor, then around the circle of fifths) but by and large are much shorter in duration. Whereas some of Chopin's preludes can stand on their own as individual works I felt that these preludes could not, and needed to be played as a group to be really appreciated. They are like 24 superlative pencil sketches that taken as a whole make up a wonderful work of art. While listening I was struck by how close some of the preludes were to the world of Chopin and Schumann while others where akin to the impressionism of early Debussy, all the while throwing in the distinctive harmonies that identify the music as coming out of Russia.

Yesterday I listened to two other preludes, Op.2 No.2 in B Major, and Op.9 No.1 in C sharp minor for left hand. The Op.2 No.2 is short with a gentle character and would be a great mystery piece for a 'Who's the Composer' game; my money would be on a lot of people thinking it was Schumann: no hints of Russia to my ears. The beautiful left hand prelude gives the illusion of two hands being used as there are three distinct events happening throughout; a melodic line, chordal accompaniment and a bass line. The pianist for these two preludes was Evgeny Zafariants on Naxos.

I then began listening to the Op. 11 preludes, comparing Zafariant's recording to Pletnev's and very quickly realized that Pletnev's way of phrasing, using rubato, pedal use, and dynamic voicing made the music come alive in a way that Zafariant's more restrained accounts did not. I find it continually fascinating that the printed music can be realized so differently from artist to artist. I dipped into other pianists for the first 3 preludes; Arthur Pizzaro, Elena Kuschnerova, and Niklas Sivelov. Sivelov tempos were extreme: Pizzaro, who I've heard live and enjoyed, was too fragmented with the line of the first prelude; Kuschnerova's playing, on the other hand, is something I will give another listen to.

I plan on listening to the rest of the preludes (there are a lot!). He wrote them throughout his life and listening to them will reveal his musical evolution. 

Week Three - Karlheinz Stockhausen: Stimmung, Part II

I just listened to the Singcircle version of Stockhausen's Stimmung, recorded on Hyperian records. First of all let me say that anyone interested in modern music should listen to this. It's an amazing work whether you like it or not. The virtuosity and stamina that the singers would need to perform this piece is immense, not to say anything of all the preparation needed individually and as a group.

My listening experience was varied; the first 20 minutes or so (the whole piece lasts about 1:05 in this version) I was totally focused and enjoying all the varied rhythmic phonetic patterns, words and 'magic names'. Then my attention started to wander. There are sections in the middle where only one note is sounding and the rhythmic variety is gone. I tried to refocus but was finding it difficult; after all the work is basically only one chord with not all the notes sounding all the time, though I need to say that there are a couple of sections were the chord is put aside and non-chord note(s) are sung. I would be curious to see what the 'model'(see previous blog) is for those sections. The last 15 to 20 minutes I was ready for the piece to end. There was a moment that I laughed out loud though; there is a model where the the words 'Thursday, Donnerstag and others are sung and then suddenly, after a short pause all the singers on their respective notes of the Bb 9 chord sing in rhythic unison the word 'Barbershop'. Of course a 9 chord being an instantly recognizable barbershop chord! So I laughed but ... still wanted the piece to end!

I will, of course, give Stimmung more listening, though probably not any time soon. There are certain compositions that might be called concept pieces or head pieces. In other words they don't arise from a kinetic/emotional/spiritual impulse of the composer but rather arise from a conceptual idea. Stimmung strikes me as being that kind of work. I know that distinction is not so cut and dried and I don't want to oversimplify (yes, I know that I am) but while listening my body and emotions were pretty quiet while my mind was at first interested and then not so interested.

Thanks for reading and as always would love to hear your thoughts about anything I write! Feel free to disagree!