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Alexander SCRIABIN (1872-1915)
Poèmes, Op.32 [3.35 + 1.42]
Poème tragique, Op.34 [3.25]
Poème satanique, Op.36 [6.35]
Valse, Op.38 [6.41]
Poème, Op.41 [5.09]
Poèmes, Op.44 [1.42 + 1.11]
Feuillet d’album, Op.45/1 [1.23]
Poème fantasque, Op.45/2 [0.29]
Quasi valse, Op.47 [1.45]
Poème ailé, Op.51/3 [1.28]
Poème, Op.52/1 [3.26]
Poème languide, Op.52/3 [2.01]
Poème, Op.59/1 [2.10]
Poème-Nocturne, Op.61 [11.26]
Poèmes, Op.63 Masques [1.30 + 2.31]
Poèmes, Op.69 [2.35 + 1.54]
Poèmes, Op.71 [3.23 + 2.48]
Vers la flamme, Op.72 [5.59]
Pascal Amoyel (piano)
rec. Pontlevoy Abbey, September 2005
CALLIOPE CAL 9353 [75.02]

Scriabin’s Poèmes span his later creative career, from the time of the Fourth Sonata to the late Vers la flame written towards the end of his life. All of these pieces are miniatures, only three being more than six minutes in length but they contain a wealth of significance.
 
These are not pieces in a recognised ‘classical’ form – such as Scriabin’s preludes, studies or mazurkas. For this reason they are in some danger of being neglected. Although there are no première recordings here, this is - so far as I am aware - the only complete recording of all the Poèmes and as such it has a unique value. Because this disc is an ‘archival’ collection, gathering all the pieces from a number of different sources, it is probably not best listened to straight through from beginning to end.
 
A number of these works display, as one would expect with Scriabin, a demand for virtuoso technique in its most extreme form. They are, as their titles suggest, poetic rather than showy. Amoyel’s performances more than adequately answer the needs of the music in both respects. He produces a lovely soft touch and sustains the scented lines and harmonies beautifully in the Poème-Nocturne; at over ten minutes it’s the longest piece on this disc. He has all the requisite bravura for Vers la flame. Amoyel is also excellent in the second longest piece here, the surprisingly jaunty Poème satanique.
 
The recorded sound, made in the resonant acoustic of Pontlevoy Abbey, has exactly the right degree of bloom for this ultra-romantic and mystical music. Most of the items here are real novelties, many of them totally unfamiliar to the general listener. Here indeed we have the soul of Scriabin exposed in a manner that is totally revealed in no other piano works of his outside the Sonatas, for which indeed some of these Poèmes sound like studies. One is extremely grateful to hear these rarities in such excellent performances and recordings.
 
Paul Corfield Godfrey




One is extremely grateful to hear these rarities in such excellent performances and recordings.