Scriabin’s last great symphonic work comes to life at the hands of the famed Russian conductor Evgeny Svetlanov as he leads the State Symphony Orchestra of the USSR in Prometheus: The Poem of Fire (1910). Catch the final installment in a stunning complete cycle of Scriabin’s symphonic works!
March 1911: all of Moscow's musical community is gathered together for one of the most eagerly awaited events of the season, the premiere of Scriabin’s Prometheus: The Poem of Fire. Part symphonic poem, part piano concerto, the work is loosely based on the ancient Greek myth of Prometheus, the Titan who stole fire from the gods in order to help mankind. By that time in the third and what would be final stage of his career (he would die of septisemia four years later), Scriabin had become fascinated by the idea of creating a mystical synthesis of the arts, and so included a part for “light keyboard” that would “play” colors corresponding to various pitches (although this part of the piece has rarely been performed). The complex and dissonant music is almost entirely based around inversions and transpositions of a what has become known as the "mystic chord": A D♯ G C♯ F♯ B.
This program has been kindly shared with us by the Evgeny Svetlanov Foundation to celebrate the maestro's 90th anniversary.
