The Lost Concerto

[Nightscape]

Have any of you heard of a piece called "L'act Prealable"?  It's a very interesting piece of music.  It was started by Scriabin as part of his Mysterium, but left unfinished due to his death.  So another composer, Nemtin, completed L'act Prealable using the sketches Scriabin left.  He scored it for a massive orchestra with chorus and a very important piano part (like Prometheus).  What I found most interesting is that it uses themes from Scriabin's last piano preludes and it's main theme is the same theme to be found in Scriabin's 8th piano sonata.
It's such a scary work though!  Style wise, it sounds very Scriabinesque, but it sounds even darker and menacing than his Prometheus.  The only place I can find a recording of these work is at www.classicalarchives.com.
I really think that this is a neglected masterpiece!  Has anyone else heard of it?

[Daevren]

Is it part of 'preparation for the final mystery'. I have that on mp3. No idea what it is exactly, assumed it was part of the unfinished Mysterium.

It has orchestra, choir and piano.

I also have a 14 part piece called 'Nuances'.

[edit]

Wait, its the same piece(both the ones I meant and the one you ment):
Scriabin-Nemtin: Nuances. Preparation for the Final Mistery

Anyway, seems like there is a Berlin S.O. Ashkenazy-Guindin recording out there.

[quintet_op81]

I think you're talking about "Prefatory Action"...right?

[DarkWind]

Does anyone know the whole story of Mysterium, why it was composed? If not, I'll tell you.

Scriabin, at his last psycho-like stages, believed he himself was God. He wrote Mysterium, and said it would be played at the foothills of the Himalayan mountains. Bells would fall down from clouds. Everyone would be gathered around there. No one would spectate; everyone participated. At the end, Scriabin would die of pure pleasure from seeing this, and the human race would disappear and be replaced by "nobler beings."

[daabo]

That's all correct, just one thing: it was all in Scriabin's imagination and he never wrote one single note of this "Mysterium". The "L'acte préalable" or "Prefactory action" was intended to be a study to the "Mysterium". Of this "Acte préalable" remain 55 pages of incoherent scetches of varying length from one single chord to some bars. Alexander Nemtin, the russian composer, took his inspiration from these scetches, took some chords or melodic fragments to compose his monumental orchestral piece "Universe" (about three hours of playing time!!). It is for about 94% the music of Nemtin, and just a little bit of Scriabin, but very impressive anyway.