Scriabin, Poeme, Op. 32, No. 2 in D

[rachfan]

Alexander Scriabin’s Poeme, Op. 32, No. 2 in D was composed in 1903 at the beginning of his middle period.  His sublimely lyrical Poeme Op. 32, No. 1 is well known, but the Poeme No. 2, seems to be played and recorded far less frequently.  Why, I don’t know, as it’s truly a fantastic piece.  So far as I can determine, even Scriabin himself recorded only No. 1 on a piano roll.  This companion Poeme No. 2 stands in striking contrast to the lyrical Poeme No. 1.  It is stormy and declamatory, yet has incredible moments of ultra-romantic writing and features rich harmonies too.  As you probably recall, Scriabin had what he called “color hearing”.  He equated the key of D with the color yellow connoting joy, and certainly this is a piece expresses exuberant ecstasy.  I hope you’ll enjoy listening.

Piano: Baldwin Model L Artist Grand (6’3”)  Lid was open only on singer stick.

Recorder: Korg MR-1000 DSD

Mics: Two Nakamichi MD-300 small diaphragm electret condenser mics with omni-directional capsules in A-B configuration.  

Comments welcome.

[Essyne]

I will take the liberty of posting first  .

I just spent 32 minutes downloading the recording (sad, I know), and I must say that it is well worth the time invested. I do not "know" any pieces by Scriabin, so I am unable to give you any technical advice, but from the listening perspective, it is highly enjoyable. You convey the "exuberant ecstasy" of the piece flawlessly, and I was wrapped up in it immediately. Your insight is dizzying, I must say.

Thank you for a phenomenal introduction to a phenomenal piece. Happy playing.

~Ess~

[rachfan]

Hi essyne,

Thanks for commenting!  I'm delighted that you enjoyed listening to this lesser known piece.  I was getting a bit concerned that nobody before you had said anything.  So thanks for breaking the ice!  I appreciate the compliments.

Scriabin music tends to be difficult.  But I always find that if I really love a piece, I will overcome the difficulties.  This one was definitely worth it!  The first time I tried recording it, I had the piano lid fully raised.  About half way through the piece, I thought the the room wouldn't withstand the sound  , so I did this one on the shorter singer stick instead.  I think it came out OK. 

[allthumbs]

Hi rachfan

I enjoyed your performance once again. Good job!

You must be playing quite a bit lately, because your piano needs tuning again.

Didn't you just get it tuned about a month ago?


Kind regards,

allthumbs

[rachfan]

Hi allthumbs,

Thanks!  I'm glad you liked my rendition. 

Right, the last tuning was May 9th, so it was just about a month ago.  I definitely have been practicing a lot.  I think if you play these heavy Scriabin pieces, you could tune the piano every week.   I keep a tuning lever handy, and take the curse off a note here or there as needed.  Worst thing is, I assured my wife that I'd get six months out of that May tuning.  (She hates tuning and the expense.)  Somehow I don't think I'll make it to November.        

[rhapsody4]

Not familiar with this piece until now, but you are right, it is a fantastic piece. I've just got into playing Scriabin recently and I will certainly have a look at this piece in the next few weeks. Good work!

[rachfan]

Thanks, rhapsody!

This piece presents a number of challenges, but you'll enjoy working on it.  I'm happy to have introduced it to you.  As compared to Poeme No. 1, it seems that No. 2 just doesn't get much play, unfortunately.  So I'm not surprised that this was your first hearing.  Good luck!

[tds]

rachfan, u have gotten better and better each n every time i listen to ur recording. what happened?

[rachfan]

Hi tds,

Thanks for the compliment!

To answer your question, I think it's combination of a few things.  First, I think I use my years of lessons in a way now in which I don't think and play academically, but more artistically.  Another factor is that while many members here like my postings, a few of them want me to post more difficult works occasionally.  So I did this Scriabin piece as a dare to myself.     The third thing is that I've changed some of my practice strategies to make them more efficient and effective.  Playing a Baldwin helps too.  All of these factors have helped me to concentrate far more on interpretation.  Finally, I believe I make my "musical intent" more apparent in my playing these days, which the listener finds more moving.

Every time I do a new recording, I notice a few details that make me think, "Gee, I could probably make a better recording."  But then again, I guess every pianist says that.  There are a few things I'd try to improve in this Scriabin piece,  but altogether, I believe it's not a bad effort.

[quantum]

Thanks for posting your recording of this piece.  I haven't heard may people play it.  You did capture the eccentric nature of Scriabin's music quite well.  It's quite a tricky to play, more so than you could tell by just listening.  I see you opted for the soft ending (that's also how I play it also).  The piece kind of has you gearing up for a ba-bam ending which would not be out of character for Scriabin.  I think soft ending gives some support to the quirky nature of the melodic motifs presented.

Also nice to hear your new recording rig.  You can definitely heard the bigness of sound from your 6 foot Baldwin.  How far were the mics from the piano?

We've had some drastic changes in weather recently - It's about 30 c right now and humid.  I've had to bring out the tuning lever several times this week.  How has the weather been where you are?

I've got a rendition here https://www.pianostreet.com/smf/index.php/topic,18444.msg198641.html#msg198641

[rachfan]

Hi quantum,

Thanks for listening and commenting!

This is definitely a difficult piece to play in several respects, but I enjoyed the challenge.

Poeme No. 2 is a wonderful piece indeed.  Why it's so eclipsed by Poeme No. 1 in that opus completely escapes me.  Like you, I did opt for the quiet ending as I believe it better comports with the afterglow of ecstasy being expressed by Scriabin. 

Incidentally, I also see Scriabin's writing as sometimes transcending rubato.  For example, to give the listener the effect of "con calore", it won't happen well at tempo.  So I relax the tempo there and at other times to allow for the savoring of the intense passion being expressed in this piece.  While tempo and meter ultimately contain traditional rubato, in Scriabin I take tempo and meter as guidelines as opposed to being rules, to more liberally allow for the ebb and flow of the music.  I believe it's the only way to play Scriabin effectively.  I think you also have reached a similar conclusion.

I enjoyed listening to your rendition too.  I think we might be the only ones to have posted the piece in this forum.  Your detailed voicing of chords, voice leading and highlighting strategic harmonies are beautifully done--very thoughtful, refined and artistic playing.  Congrats!

To answer your question: After much experimentation, I place the the two mics 8 feet away from the piano (as measured from the front leg of the piano, not the curve, since there are notes in the high treble there by that leg).  I separate the mics by exactly 12 inches, and usually incline the mics about 15 degrees upward toward the top of the open lid.  When I started the recording session, I had the lid fully up, as always.  Well, half way through the first page, I thought the Baldwin was going to knock down the walls of the house!  So I put the lid on the singer stick, which seemed to work well in this instance.  Also, I'm fully satisfied with the Korg recorder.  That was a great investment.  I would recommend that unit to anyone.

Variable weather... groan.     I'm in eastern-central Maine, a brutal climate for pianos.  Temperatures here last week were in the low 50s F with rain, but with some dry days in the 70s F.  Tomorrow will be hitting 90 F!  The piano enjoys central A/C, but even at that, the notorious temperature and humidity swings in northern New England will still raise havoc with any piano.  The Baldwin was tuned on May 9th, but when I recorded the Scriabin on June 6th, the tuning had already slipped given the crazy weather.  So I used the tuning lever to take the curse off a few notes before doing the recording.  Some of this will be self correcting as the coming hot and humid conditions will cause a gain in the downbearing of the strings making the tones more sharp.       

[lostinidlewonder]

Scriabin, how difficult is it to get the split personality of his music sometimes. Usually when I listen to people play his music it seems like they are on one level and just varying it from that point, they can't get the different personalities, or color of the music Scriabin wrote and saw when he played. I really liked your playing nice and I felt different characters in your playing, but with Scriabin you always must toe the line of overdoing your expression and then whip right back into controlled focus. When the personality splits like moving from 0:25-0;26, really aim to make the difference in character much more obvious or from 0:43-0:44 etc etc, exaggerate more. To phrase Scriabin in an ideal manner is very tough. And I will echo others that your piano needs tuning

[rachfan]

Hi lost,

Yes, I tried to bring out that duality and took a couple of large liberties in the tempo as part of the exaggeration you mention--it's the only way to play Scriabin.  I think what you're saying is to make the changes between "characters" more immediate and crisp.  (I tend to morph one personality into the next.)  Thanks for those suggestions. 

And thanks for listening!

(The piano lives in an unfriendly climate; plus practicing this Poeme on any piano would knock it out of tune!)   

[iheartpiano]

I've listened to this several times now, I really enjoyed your recording.  I'm embarrassed to say that I'm not too familiar with Scriabin.  I believe you when you say his music is difficult to play, it sure sounds like it.  Don't think I'll be ready for it anytime soon. 

I'm getting my piano tuned this weekend, it's way overdue.

[rachfan]

Hi iheartpiano,

Thanks for listening (and several times at that!).  I'm glad you enjoyed this Scriabin recording.  It's a marvelous piece to say the least.  I've been doing a Bortkiewicz project here and will continue with that, but I believe I'll also be preparing another Scriabin Poeme concurrently, so hopefully I will be able to post that too. 

Getting your piano tuned... I'm envious! 

[rachfan]

Where kelly_kelly has worked hard to produce a fine recording of the "Poeme", Op. 31, No. 1, I thought it might be nice to bring back my recording of the "Poeme", Op. 31, No. 2 so that members can hear the pair together.  But before you listen to my recording here, please be sure to first go to kelly_kelly's beautiful rendition of No. 1, as that's the order in which Scriabin intended them to be performed and appreciated.  Thanks!