The Poem of Fire
A fiery homage to Scriabin
I am a diamond among all the stars, I am liberty and ecstasy.
For the Scriabin centennial in 2015, fire was chosen as the central theme for a program we call The Poem of Fire (Poème du feu) which brings together composers who have been profoundly influenced by Scriabin’s work.
Ivan Wyschnegradsky was a spiritual disciple of Scriabin who transmitted his microtonal scales to Canadian composer Bruce Mather. Marc Patch, a student of Mather’s, has composed a new work for the Ensemble Variances that is imbued with mysticism and the esoteric sources of Scriabin’s music.
In this concert by candlelight, the audience will experience the sparks, the flame and eventually the fire when Ensemble Variances joins the great pianist and Scriabin adept Alexander Melnikov.
Video
Pictures
Program
Ivan Wyschnegradsky
Meditation on two themes for the Day of Existence for cello and piano, op. 7 (1918-1919)
Gérard Grisey
Nout for contrabass clarinet
Alexander Scriabin
Cinq Préludes, op. 74
Alexander Scriabin
Vers la Flamme, op. 72
Thierry Pécou
Soleil-Feu for violin and piano (Thierry Pécou, piano)
Bruce Mather
Duo basso for bass flute and bass clarinet (1996)
Marc Patch
SILVER for flute, clarinet, violin, cello and piano
Alexander Scriabin
Sonate nº 9 «Messe noire», op. 68
The cast
Guest artist
Alexander Melnikov piano
Ensemble Variances
Thierry Pécou director
Anne Cartel flute
Carjez Gerretsen clarinet
Liana Gourdjia violin
David Louwerse cello
Note by Marc Patch
Silver
In this piece that I will compose for the tribute concert for the 100th anniversary of the death of Scriabin, I would like to emphasize the following points.
Firstly, I am going to refer to Scriabin’s Prometheus: Poem of Fire.
Following a musicological analysis, I will isolate the formal construction of that work which will then serve as a reference for the structure of my composition.
The element of fire will be ever-present in the composition and the instrumentation will reflect this by providing a space in which each of the five instruments – flute, clarinet, violin, cello and piano – will be brought to light one after another, like a flame whose center contains the highest intensity of the fire. I already see the "mystic chord", which was so important to Scriabin, as the preferred material for my composition.
The mystic chord will interact with my favorite chord, which is based on a dominant ninth chord with the addition of seven other notes which, when arranged in superimposed thirds, give us the chromatic form. Within this interaction, filters will be used to define the fire analogy as it is set to music.
Informations
Partnership Sorek Artists Management.
www.musiccentre.ca (Marc Patch) www.impresariat-simmenauer.de (Alexander Melnikov)