Composer: Alexander Scriabin
Performer: Michèle Gurdal
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Challenge
Catalogue: CC72640
Release: 2014
Size: 157 MB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: cover
Etude in C-Sharp Minor, Op. 2, No. 1
01. Andante
12 Études, op. 8
02. No. 1 in C-Sharp Major, Allegro
03. No. 2 in F-Sharp Minor, A capriccio con forza
04. No. 3 in B Minor, Tempestoso
05. No. 4 in B Major, Piacevole
06. No. 5 in E Major, Brioso
07. No. 6 in A Major, Con Grazia
08. No. 7 in B-Flat Minor, Presto tenebroso, agitato
09. No. 8 in A-Flat Major, Lento (Tempo rubato)
10. No. 9 in G-Sharp Minor, Alla Ballata
11. No.10 in D-Flat Major, Allegro
12. No. 11 in B-Flat Minor, Andante cantabile
13. No.12 in D-Sharp Minor, Patetico
Etudes, Op. 42
14. No. 1 in D-Flat Major, Presto
15. No. 2 in F-Sharp Minor
16. No. 3 in F-Sharp Major, Prestissimo
17. No. 4 in F-Sharp Major, Andante
18. No. 5 in C-Sharp Minor, Affanato
19. No. 6 in D-Flat Major, Esaltato
20. No. 7 in F Minor, Agitato
21. No. 8 in E-Flat Major, Allegro
3 Etudes, Op. 65
22. No. 2, Allegretto
23. No. 3, Molto vivace
On her debut recording for Challenge Classics, the brilliant young Belgian pianist Michèle Gurdal performs virtually all the Etudes, including the major op 8 and op 42 sets, by the visionary Russian composer Alexander Scriabin. Michèle Gurdal was only nine years old when she played the solo part in Joseph Haydn’s Piano Concerto in G Major with the Belgian Chamber Orchestra live on Belgian television.
By the age of 17 she had already completed her studies at the Conservatoire Royal de Bruxelles in piano, chamber music and music history, receiving the coveted Diplom de Premier Prix on graduation. She also studied in the master class of Homero Francesch in Zurich and with Professor Anatol Ugorski at the University of Music in Detmold.
Russian composer Alexander Scriabin is mostly known for the exotic and visionary style of his compositions. He developed a largely atonal musical system, which he linked into his personal brand of mysticism. Scriabin was influenced by synesthesia, and associated colours with the various pitches of his atonal scale. Although he is known for orchestral works like the highly atmospheric “Poem of Ecstasy”, his piano music, including the etudes featured on this CD, are considered to be standards of the repertoire.
Extase, Michèle Gurdal’s 2014 album of the etudes for piano by Alexander Scriabin, is a fascinating survey of these demanding pieces, which were composed between 1888 and 1912, showing Scriabin’s development as a virtuoso pianist and composer. Profoundly influenced by Chopin, Scriabin’s Etude No. 1 in C sharp minor, Op. 2, is the closest in style and expression, and the 12 Etudes of Op. 8 share much of the Romantic master’s displays of technical brilliance blended with poetic melancholy. But by the time Scriabin wrote the 8 Etudes, Op. 42, he had cultivated a feeling for atmospheric and nearly impressionistic sonorities, similar to Debussy’s, and in the Études of Op. 65, he had ventured beyond conventional piano writing into a mystical and increasingly atonal idiom, entirely identifiable as his own visionary music. Many crowd-pleasing pianists favor Scriabin’s early, more approachable pieces, but Gurdal’s thorough understanding of Scriabin’s three stages gives her more authority and persuasiveness, and she is communicative and convincing in the whole oeuvre. This exciting debut on Challenge Classics promises great things to come, and if Gurdal records more Scriabin, particularly the sonatas and the preludes, there will be many appreciative listeners.