Vladivostok, Primorsky Stage, Great Hall

Scriabin – 150

All works for symphony orchestra. Second evening


PERFORMERS:
Ivan Kuligovsky (piano)
Mariinsky Orchestra and Chorus of the Primorsky Stage
Conductor: Pavel Smelkov

PROGRAMME:
Symphony No. 2, Op. 29
Poem Prometheus, Op. 60

About the Concert

The Symphony No. 2 in C minor, Op. 29, was written by Alexander Scriabin in the summer of 1901, immediately after his First Symphony. The composer decided to make the achievements that, in his opinion, had failed in his First Symphony, and the Symphony No. 2 became a signal composition completing an important stage of his career.

Judging by their conceptions and structures, the First and Second Symphonies have much in common. In the Symphony No. 2, Scriabin continues to play up the classic form. His First Symphony has a six-movement scheme and ends in a grand choral finale with soloists, whereas the Symphony No. 2 is a purely orchestral work though it has an unconventional scheme, too, consisting of five movements.

As the first movement, the somber and meditative Andante triggers the general development. The drama unfolds torrentially in the second movement (Allegro), which follows the first one with no break. The slow third movement (Andante) is an idyllic center of the symphony, which celebrates the glory of nature and warble and in which woodwinds often imitate birdsongs. The Tempestoso, a minor scherzo, introduces again a suspenseful set of images, preparing the triumphal finale. Both in Scriabin’s First Symphony and in his Second one, the final movement serves as an epilogue to the preceding music material. That is the reason why in the Maestoso, the main theme is none other than a transformed initial theme of the symphony. However, it does not express intent thinking; it is a brilliant victorious march ushering in “true light”.

On January 12, 1902, at the Saint Petersburg premiere, the Symphony No. 2 was met dubiously. Reviewers noted that Scriabin’s symphonic artistry rose undoubtedly. However, they felt that the charming melodiousness of the First Symphony was missing from the Second one. Some older composers such as Arensky, Rimsky-Korsakov and Lyadov were confused by its lax form and numerous hard sounds in the tradition of Wagner or Richard Strauss. Scriabin himself had indulgence for their reproofs. His mind was filled with new music ideas that would be able to change that world…

Natalia Rogudeeva

Alexander Scriabin had a rare gift for synesthesia (color hearing). For him, each tone or chord symbolized a color or color scheme. The composer aimed at joining opportunities of sound and visual arts; names of his some compositions include images that relate to light or fire in one way or another. Prometheus: The Poem of Fire is the last of Scriabin’s completed orchestral works. This tone poem has not a specific program and is only loosely based on the Greek myth of Prometheus, whose image serves only as a symbol for Scriabin. “Prometheus represents the active energy of the universe, its creative principle. The fire is light, life, struggle, effort, thought,” said the composer. Prometheus is performed with a huge orchestra including an extended brass and percussion section, an organ and a soloing piano that impersonates the image of Prometheus. According to Scriabin’s conception of sound and light blending, his idea was to perform the poem featuring a choir and the clavier à lumières (“keyboard with lights”). The whole harmonic-and-melodic pattern of Prometheus is deduced from a dissonant six-note chord that opens the poem. In the theory of music it has become known as the “Prometheus chord”, and Scriabin himself called it the “chord of the pleroma”, alluding to the idea of all Space of the universe in various mystic teachings. In Prometheus some themes interact, and its structure includes several related sections that are continuously performed to make a beeline for the final climax. Only at the end, during the symphonic poem’s apotheosis, the “Prometheus chord” turns into an exultant major triad that reflects symbolically the transformation of chaos into world harmony.

Vladimir Khavrov

Age category 6+

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