The Alexander Scriabin companion : history, performance, and lore

441 Pages·2017·7.86 MB·English

by  Ballard

The Alexander Scriabin
Companion

The Alexander Scriabin
Companion
History, Performance, and Lore
Lincoln Ballard
Matthew Bengtson
with John Bell Young
ROWMAN & LITTLEFIELD
Lanham • Boulder • New York • London
Published by Rowman & Littlefield
A wholly owned subsidiary of The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc.
4501 Forbes Boulevard, Suite 200, Lanham, Maryland 20706
www.rowman.com
Unit A, Whitacre Mews, 26-34 Stannary Street, London SE11 4AB
Copyright © 2017 by Lincoln Ballard, Matthew Bengtson, and John Bell Young
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic
or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written
permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote passages in a review.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Ballard, Lincoln, 1975– | Bengtson, Matthew | Young, John Bell.
Title: The Alexander Scriabin companion : history, performance, and lore / Lincoln Ballard,
Matthew Bengtson, with John Bell Young.
Description: Lanham : Rowman & Littlefield, [2017] | Includes bibliographical references
and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2017011438 (print) | LCCN 2017011542 (ebook) | ISBN
9781442232624 (electronic) | ISBN 9781442232617 (cloth : alk. paper)
Subjects: LCSH: Scriabin, Aleksandr Nikolayevich, 1872–1915—Criticism and
interpretation.
Classification: LCC ML410.S5988 (ebook) | LCC ML410.S5988 B335 2017 (print) |
DDC 786.2092 [B]—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017011438
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American
National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library
Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992.
Printed in the United States of America
Contents
Foreword vii
Preface ix
Acknowledgments xv
1 En Garde or Avant-Garde? Exploding the Scriabin Myth 1
Part I: Encountering Scriabin
2 Life, Legacy, and Music 15
3 The Solo Piano Music 33
4 Symphonies and Orchestral Works 74
Part II: Topics in Reception History
5 Madness and Other Myths 113
6 On Synaesthesia or “Color-Hearing” 131
7 Scriabin’s Russian Roots and the Symbolist Aesthetic 158
8 The Revival in 1960s America 182
Part III: In Performance
9 From Musical Text to the Imagination 207
10 Technique 218
v
vi Contents
11 Line and Melody 239
12 Harmony 251
13 The Scriabin Sound 282
14 Rhythm 306
Notes 327
Glossary and Pronounciation Guide 381
Bibliography 391
Index 397
About the Authors 421
Foreword
Some composers lead interesting lives, others don’t, but no other composer has a
more multidimensional allure than Scriabin. It’s not just that the music on the page
and its vibrations in the air is only the beginning of an understanding of the Russian
composer, but the force of the artist behind the notes draws us into a beguilingly
strange world where music and mysticism, sense and spirit blur and blend.
From an ephemeral one-minute Poème whispered on a drawing room Bechstein
to the mighty ambition of the “Mysterium,” a projected weeklong work designed to
be performed at the foot of the Himalayas as the world dissolved in bliss, Scriabin’s
inspiration was as much color and perfume and philosophy as simple notes of the
scale. And that musical scale itself was constantly expanded, its tonal implications
massaged into strange shapes and intoxicating harmonies, their overtones spiraling
upward like so many exotic petals unfolding on a rare flower. If Wagner’s yearning
endlessly seeks resolution, Scriabin is on a search for the yearning itself: Who needs
a resolution when the longing provides such ecstasy?
And eroticism. There is barely a bar in Scriabin’s entire output which does not
aim to seduce with the voluptuousness of its harmonies or the beguiling line of its
melodies. It is a celebration of the power of sound to arouse—the fingers caressing
the keys, the ear trembling with sympathetic, sensual delight.
This book is the fruit of decades of either writing or playing at the highest level
by three musicians who have immersed themselves in this composer’s extraordinary
world. How to handle Scriabin? At the keyboard he requires consummate virtuosity
on every level—fingers, pedal, sound, nuance, rubato; in print he needs someone
with imagination, flare and daring . . . and perspective. As we observe the centenary
of his death, this book brings Scriabin back to life once more, although do I hear the
composer’s voice? “Ah, but I never died in the first place.”
—Stephen Hough
vii

Preface
Lincoln Ballard
My journey into the strange and wondrous world of Alexander Scriabin’s life and
music began in the summer of 2000. Having moved from the heartland of Ohio
to pursue a master’s degree at Florida State University, I rented an apartment close
to the FSU campus and befriended a French horn player who lived in the same
complex. I was an aspiring pianist in those days, but I started playing far too late
in life to ever be competitive. None of that soured my love for playing the piano
and learning new repertoire. I will never forget the day my friend handed me an all-
black CD with a shadowy figure on the cover who gazed dreamily into the distance
and proudly displayed his starched collar and handlebar moustache. “I think you’re
going to like this,” he said. That night, I found myself captivated by the mysterious
rumblings and thundering climaxes I heard pouring through my speakers, played by
the American pianist Ruth Laredo on the Nonesuch label. It was a profound musical
experience that led me down the rabbit hole of studying Scriabin, his music, and all
of its associated influences.
Since that incredible moment of discovery, I have devoted myself to learning
everything I could find out about Scriabin’s life and legacy. I have scoured a broad
range of sources and saved morsels of information wherever I could locate them.1
My curiosity about all things Scriabin has not diminished since my graduate school
days, and today I am well versed in the myths, legends, and historical issues that have
enveloped this fascinating composer, whom the pianist and musicologist Jonathan
Powell described in the 2001 Grove Dictionary (the gold standard of music history)
as “one of the most extraordinary figures musical culture has ever witnessed.”2 In
writing this book, I am fortunate to have had the assistance of two of the top Scri-
abin-playing pianists in the world, John Bell Young and Matthew Bengtson. Their
decades of experience performing and interpreting Scriabin’s music at the keyboard
complements my fifteen years of historical research.
ix