Search - Scriabin, Richter, Svetlanov :: Scriabin: Symphony No. 3 The Divine Poem, Prometheus Op. 60 The Poem of Fire

These stereo recordings were made at concerts in 1990 and 1988 respectively. The great attraction here is the great pianist (and great Scriabinist) Sviatoslav Richter in music he never recorded elsewhere. Of course, the piano is not always out front in this manic piece of orchestral madness, but where it is you can tell that Richter's powers were undiminished even this late in his career (he was 73) and even when he was playing music new to his repertoire. The Divine Poem strikes these ears as nearly 50 minutes of noisy junk--extravagant pseudo movie music. Yevgeny Svetlanov obviously takes it seriously, though, and so does the enthusiastic audience. --Leslie Gerber