Search - Scriabin, Piers Lane :: Complete Preludes for Piano

Smooth & Colorful Scriabin

Hank Drake | Cleveland, OH United States | 06/05/2001

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Complete editions of Scriabin are exceedingly rare, even during the age of the CD glut. Piers Lane has previously recorded the complete Etudes, and this 2-CD set is a welcome addition to the catalogue. Lane is more than up to the task technically and musically. Scriabin's often treacherous left-hand writing is played with clarity and color, and Lane's phrasing is natural sounding. What Lane lacks is the last ounce of temperament, which this music requires in abundance. The diabolical quality which Horowitz and Gavrilov bring to some of these pieces is missing. However, this is a fine set of the Preludes, which range in mood from Chopinesque to apocalyptic. Recorded sound is a bit too reverberant, but acceptable."

Excellent performance

J. A. Bradley | Omaha NE USA | 04/05/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"As an amateur pianist of moderate+ ability, I have often struggled with many of the Scriabin preludes, both from a technical and an interpretive viewpoint. However, I always found them worth the effort. Unfortunately, there haven't been too many recordings of these (other than the op. 11, of which I have very good LPs of Ruth Laredo and Vladamir Horowitz), so I was entirely on my own for the later pieces.



How wonderful it was to find this recording of the complete preludes! I must disagree with the earlier reviewer that Lane is lacking; I thought these were fine performances (I can also highly recommend his recording of the complete etudes)."