Garrick Ohlsson – Scriabin: Complete Poemes (2015) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

For all of his short adult life, Alexander Scriabin wrote—or planned to write—monumental works of great import, and in between these efforts he produced a steady torrent of miniatures, tiny concentrated droplets of this same expansive genius. Fascinatingly, the composer’s designation ‘poème’ is applied both to ground-breaking symphonic perorations and to the extended series of thirty-four little piano pieces, written over more than a decade and often grouped into little sets. Their inspirations are as varied as their titles—from black magic to cosmic aspiration—and they offer a key into their composer’s inner world.
American pianist Garrick Ohlsson is an acknowledged master of the genre—astonished critical reaction to his recordings of Brahms, Granados and of course Chopin attest to this—and this new Scriabin recording will only enhance an admirable reputation.

Initially idolised by a small coterie, Scriabin was also vilified by those who placed reason above passion, clarity above obscurity. Today he enjoys a near classic status and Garrick Ohlsson’s disc of the complete Poèmes provides ample food for thought. Having notched up a huge array of recordings combined with an intensive concert career, his playing now reflects rich experience and musical quality. True, those accustomed to Horowitz’s incandescent response to Scriabin’s neurosis may feel themselves short-changed by Ohlsson’s restraining hand, by a more settled view of an unsettled genius. But there are admirable compensations in playing that can contain even Scriabin’s wilder, least accessible outpourings.

At the same time, even Ohlsson cannot entirely erase evidence of writing of such self-conscious liberation that it finally and ironically becomes caged in its own conventions. Whether frantic or remote, one poème becomes much like another and many of the composer’s more bizarre titles and instructions (Désir, Caresse dansée, Festivamente, fastoso, Etrange, capricieusement, etc) come to seem like a form of desperation, of special pleading in the face of public and critical bafflement. But whether in the Scherzo, Op 46 (jocular in an ironic sense), in the gazelle-like leaps of the Poème ailé, Op 51 No 3, or in the one substantial offering, Vers la flamme, you feel grateful for Ohlsson’s refusal to indulge or over-reach. Finely recorded, his empathy with so many fragmented dreamscapes is lucid and sensitive. –Bryce Morrison, Gramophone

Tracklist:
01. Garrick Ohlsson – Deux poemes, Op 32 – No 1 in F sharp major. Andante cantabile (03:21)
02. Garrick Ohlsson – Deux poemes, Op 32 – No 2 in D major. Allegro, con eleganza, con fiducia (01:40)
03. Garrick Ohlsson – Poeme tragique, Op 34 (03:28)
04. Garrick Ohlsson – Poeme satanique, Op 36 (06:31)
05. Garrick Ohlsson – Poeme, Op 41 (04:45)
06. Garrick Ohlsson – Deux poemes, Op 44 – No 1. Lento (01:26)
07. Garrick Ohlsson – Deux poemes, Op 44 – No 2. Moderato (01:16)
08. Garrick Ohlsson – Trois morceaux, Op 45 – No 1. Feuillet d’album. Andante piacevole (01:07)
09. Garrick Ohlsson – Trois morceaux, Op 45 – No 2. Poeme fantasque. Presto (00:30)
10. Garrick Ohlsson – Scherzo, Op 46 (01:29)
11. Garrick Ohlsson – Quasi valse, Op 47 (01:33)
12. Garrick Ohlsson – Trois morceaux, Op 49 – No 3. Reverie. Con finezza (01:25)
13. Garrick Ohlsson – Quatre morceaux, Op 51 – No 1. Fragilite. Allegretto (02:31)
14. Garrick Ohlsson – Quatre morceaux, Op 51 – No 3. Poeme aile (01:18)
15. Garrick Ohlsson – Quatre morceaux, Op 51 – No 4. Danse languide (01:41)
16. Garrick Ohlsson – Trois morceaux, Op 52 – No 1. Poeme. Lento (02:34)
17. Garrick Ohlsson – Trois morceaux, Op 52 – No 2. Enigme. Etrange, capricieusement (01:10)
18. Garrick Ohlsson – Trois morceaux, Op 52 – No 3. Poeme languide. Pas vite (01:22)
19. Garrick Ohlsson – Quatre morceaux, Op 56 – No 2. Ironies. Vivo, scherzoso (02:17)
20. Garrick Ohlsson – Quatre morceaux, Op 56 – No 3. Nuaces. Fondu, veloute (02:06)
21. Garrick Ohlsson – Deux morceaux, Op 57 – No 1. Desir (02:16)
22. Garrick Ohlsson – Deux morceaux, Op 57 – No 2. Caresse dansee (02:07)
23. Garrick Ohlsson – Feuillet d’album, Op 58 (01:10)
24. Garrick Ohlsson – Deux morceaux, Op 59 – No 1. Poeme. Allegretto, avec grace et douceur (01:59)
25. Garrick Ohlsson – Poeme-nocturne, Op 61 (06:46)
26. Garrick Ohlsson – Deux poemes, Op 63 – No 1. Masque. Allegretto (01:26)
27. Garrick Ohlsson – Deux poemes, Op 63 – No 2. Etrangete. Gracieux, delicat (02:00)
28. Garrick Ohlsson – Deux poemes, Op 69 – No 1. Allegretto (02:09)
29. Garrick Ohlsson – Deux poemes, Op 69 – No 2. Allegretto (01:34)
30. Garrick Ohlsson – Deux poemes, Op 71 – No 1. Fantastique (01:43)
31. Garrick Ohlsson – Deux poemes, Op 71 – No 2. En revant, avec une grande douceur (01:53)
32. Garrick Ohlsson – Vers la flamme ‘Poeme’, Op 72 (05:47)
33. Garrick Ohlsson – Deux danses, Op 73 – No 1. Guirlandes. Avec une grace languissante (02:59)
34. Garrick Ohlsson – Deux danses, Op 73 – No 2. Flammes sombres. Avec une grace dolente (02:12)