24 Preludes

Scriabin was only 16 when he embarked on what would become his first major opus. The project of composing a cycle of 24 preludes, organised in a logical sequence of keys in emulation of Chopin’s famous set, appealed to Scriabin, Chopin being his favourite composer. Yet it also seems likely that the challenge of matching Chopin’s achievement sufficiently piqued Scriabin to extend his expressive range and harmonic adventurousness, thus starting the journey which led him to eventually become Russia’s leading avant-garde composer. Here in this Op. 11 set, however, we hear him working fluently within a late-Romantic style largely inherited from Chopin, with occasional hints of other composers he loved, such as Schumann, or was just discovering, such as Wagner. Scriabin took his time in composing the cycle—over eight years between 1888 and 1896—and naturally did not compose the preludes in their final order. Most were written in Moscow, though a fair number were composed while he was on tour or taking rest cures in Europe: at the end of each piece, he notes its place of composition. (Some in Dresden, others in Heidelberg, or the Swiss resort of Vitznau by Lake Lucerne.) All in all, it is a remarkable and well-contrasted collection of short works, fully demonstrating an already fully realised artistic voice.