The Performing Style of Alexander Scriabin

When Alexander Nikolayevich Scriabin's music was performed, the listeners' responses were ecstatic. Wilhelm Gericke, conductor of the Vienna opera, rushed backstage after one of Scriabin's concerts and fell on his knees crying, 'It's genius, it's genius...'. Extremely famous during his lifetime, Scriabin was quickly ignored after his death. Although he was always present in the mainstream of Russian music, until recently the outside world neglected him.Scriabin recorded nineteen of his compositions on the Hupfeld and Welte-Mignon reproducing pianos in 1908 and 1910. Fifteen of the player-piano rolls remain, and Anatole Leikin here provides the first detailed transcriptions, including evidence of Scriabin's performance: exact pitches and their timing against each other, rhythms, articulation, tempo fluctuations, dynamics and essential pedal usage. Based on these transcriptions (provided as an Appendix), the book focuses on an analysis of Scriabin's performing style within the broader context of Romantic performance practice.Anatole Leikin's book contributes significantly to the worldwide resurgence of interest in Scriabin's music and ideas.