This hour-long Scriabin program traces the composer’s creative development from his youthful Chopin/Wagner influence to the self-absorbed mysticism of his later works. Twenty-five-year-old Moscow-born pianist Sophia Lisovskaya has what it takes to bring this music to life: a beautiful, robust sonority, plus secure, well-drilled fingers that can take care of anything and make it sound easy. Perhaps too easy at times: you might wish for greater melodic profile and projection throughout the faster Op. 11 Preludes, in the manner of Piers Lane’s recent recordings. Likewise, more tension, dramatic build, and textural layering would drive Vers la Flamme over the ecstatic brink, à la Horowitz and Sofronitsky. On the other hand, Lisovskaya’s languid introspection works to the advantage of the first and fourth Op. 16 Preludes and the fragile Op. 57 Desir and Caresse dansée. Compared with Ashkenazy’s passionate, febrile Scriabin Fourth Sonata or Marc-André Hamelin’s cool-minded proficiency, Lisovskaya’s softer-grained approach somewhat quells the music’s obsessive, zany qualities. BIS provides the pianist with ample, realistic, and attractive sound. It’s not a Scriabin recital that sashays up to you and proclaims at the top of its lungs: “Listen to me!”; but it’s a disc worth hearing all the same.
