Poem op.32 #1, Scriabin

[arensky]

I figured I should finally post something here! Most of my performances are on tape, and I'm having some transferred, hopefully for your enjoyment!  . This is from a concert two and a 1/2 years ago, one of those summer faculty group recital things. Large hall, 1995 Steinway D. Unfortunately the companion piece did not measure up, so I hope you enjoy this; I will be posting more in the near future...I hope y'all like it!

[bearzinthehood]

There's something odd about that file.  I can't get it to play in either Foobar2000, Winamp or Windows Media Player.

[arensky]

There's something odd about that file.  I can't get it to play in either Foobar2000, Winamp or Windows Media Player.

Yes; It shows up on my computer as m4a, I have tried converting it to mpg, mp3, wmv, it will only play on my computer. I also posted it at Piano Society, in m4a, which is not accepted by this site  .  Has anyone had any luck with this? Please advise....

[bearzinthehood]

Yes; It shows up on my computer as m4a, I have tried converting it to mpg, mp3, wmv, it will only play on my computer. I also posted it at Piano Society, in m4a, which is not accepted by this site  .  Has anyone had any luck with this? Please advise....

In that case simply changing the extension to .m4a does the trick.

[arensky]

BUMP!!! I think I finally got the ****** thing to work...love this or hate it, please post a reply if it works! 

[wzkit]

Yup, got it...and great stuff. I think you capture that sensuousness of this Poeme very well. Would like to hear more from you!

[arensky]

Yup, got it...and great stuff. I think you capture that sensuousness of this Poeme very well. Would like to hear more from you!

You will, it's coming soon! 

[pianistimo]

agreed with wzkit!  so beautiful!  amazing memory you have.

[lisztisforkids]

Nicely done. Silvery sheets of ice with tints of the sublime. Great. 

[zheer]

arensky, do you play Jazz music, i ask because it has that jazz quality, it might be just the music.

[arensky]

arensky, do you play Jazz music, i ask because it has that jazz quality, it might be just the music.

LOL, the ads; "Climb Mt. Kilamanjaro"  Must be the "silvery sheets of ice" from lisztisforkids; cool comment BTW, although my vision is  tropical, in Jamaica or India or some such place.

Yes I do play Jazz, as much as I play "Classical". I think what you're hearing is the harmonic and melodic structure of the piece, which resembles Jazz of the 1950's . The day after this performance a piano student asked me "was that by Gershwin?" (no written program). I thought that was a very good answer. Many Jazz pianists since the 1920's. including Bix Beiderbecke (better known for his trumpet but an extraordinary and innovative jazz pianist), Errol Garner, Billy Strayhorn,  George Shearing, Bill Evans and Herbie Hancock among many others acknowledge Debussy, Ravel and Scriabin as influences on their own harmonic language or style. In fact Bill Evans recordrd a Scriabin piece, with orchestra like a small Concerto. The result unfortunately was pretentious muzak...   Micheal Brecker wrote a piece called "Scriabin", which has more to do with late Scriabin than this middle period which this Poem op.32 #1 is from, and which often reminds listeners of Jazz.

Anyway I hope it is the piece that sounds like Jazz, not my playing; when I play Jazz, I might occasionally be thinking about Scriabin, but not the other way around!

[zheer]

Thanks arensky for the educated reply, i know zip about jazz and even less about
scriabin.

[al]

This is very nice, you take the same tempo as me (a lot of people play this faster for some reason).  I like your rubato aswell.  Personally, I prefer the short rising motif (b.4) to be staccato as marked.  The rhythms in the second section are good (better than mine!), but I prefer to bring out the left hand a little more - it actually seems more of a melody to me than the right hand, which i tend to play as colouring.  The ending is great.  I hope I can perform this as well as you did (I'll be playing it sometime in January, I'll put a recording up in here).

[shasta]

Beautiful playing Arensky!   

[rohansahai]

Very beautifully done indeed ! I love it !
more more more !

[arensky]

Very beautifully done indeed ! I love it !
more more more !

Thank you thank you thank you! Soon soon soon! 

[arensky]

This is very nice, you take the same tempo as me (a lot of people play this faster for some reason).  I like your rubato aswell.  Personally, I prefer the short rising motif (b.4) to be staccato as marked.  The rhythms in the second section are good (better than mine!), but I prefer to bring out the left hand a little more - it actually seems more of a melody to me than the right hand, which i tend to play as colouring.  The ending is great.  I hope I can perform this as well as you did (I'll be playing it sometime in January, I'll put a recording up in here).

Why would anyone play this faster?  Yes, the staccato scale I play staccato but with pedal, so it sounds colorful. Horowitz acheives this, but I am no Horowitz  I try to do it the way he does, but it's extremely difficult to pull off. The piano in this performance is EXTREMELY bright and metallic, so I may have played legato in this instance to avoid a machine gun effect, which would be highly inappropriate in this instance  . Anyway thank you for your kind comments! Looking forward to your recording!