Alexander Scriabin 1 The Poem of Ecstasy („Le Poem d‘Extase“), 19:16 Op. 54 Houston Symphony Orchestra /Leopold Stokowski, Conductor Fikret Amirov 2 Azerbaijan Mugam („Kyurdi Ovshari“) 13:40 Houston Symphony Orchestra /Leopold Stokowski, Conductor SCRIABIN: The Poem of Ecstasy (Le Some of Scriabin’s new ideas, to which of thought. There are three divisions in his Poème d’extase), Op. 54 he attributed mystical significance, were Poem: 1. His soul in the orgy of love; 2. The incorporated into Le Poème d’extase, a big realization of a fantastical dream; 3. The AMIROV: Azerbaijan Mugam one-movement work in sonata form which glory of his own art.” (“Kyurdi Ovshari”) combines the elements of a symphony and a tone poem. It was begun in 1907, while In his biography of the composer, A. Leopold Stokowski conducting the the composer was living at Beatenberg in Eaglefield Hull writes of The Poem of Ecstasy, Houston Symphony Orchestra Switzerland, and was completed in January, “The basic idea of this, the fourth chief 1908. It received its initial performance orchestral work of Scriabin, is the Ecstasy On this disc are two richly colored Russian on December 10, 1908, at a concert of the of untrammeled action, the Joy in Creative symphonic works. Interpreting them is Russian Symphony Orchestra of New York, Activity.” Basing his comments upon the Leopold Stokowski, one of the most brilliant Modest Altschuler conducting. The following composer’s own annotations in the score, he conductors of our day. This combination of year, it was played several times in Scriabin’s assigns to the Prologue “human striving after colorful music and brilliant interpretation native Russia, where it brought forth cri- the ideal” and “the Ego theme gradually has been reproduced by Everest Records tiques both of praise and condemnation. But realizing itself.” The principal theme of the with a fidelity of sound that has to be heard it succeeded in winning second prize in the main section he associates with “the soaring to be believed. annual competition in honor of Glinka; the flight of the spirit;” the second theme, a vio- first prize went to Rachmaninoff’s Second lin solo, with “Human Love,” and the third, Alexander Scriabin (1871-1915) lived Symphony. It might be noted, parentheti- an important passage for solo trumpet, with and composed in a transitional period in cally, that the Glinka Prize was founded by “the Will to rise up.” In the Development musical history, when Romanticism was the rich timber merchant and music pub- and Recapitulation, the music passes uttering its last dying gasp and Modernism lisher, M. P. Belaieff, who was an ardent through moments of tragedy, stress, defi- was forging to the front. This was also a supporter of Scriabin and whose subsidies ance, charm, pleasure and ecstasy. Finally, period of mysticism and Nietzschian philos- enabled him to devote his entire energies to the work reaches “an Allegro molto Coda of ophy. For some, including Scriabin, it was a giving piano recitals and composing. the swiftest and lightest flight imaginable. time for the expression of the ego in music. The Trumpet subject becomes broader, and Altschuler, who was a friend of Scriabin’s assumes great majesty, until it finally unrolls Scriabin himself was a mystic with many and who had brought out several of his other itself in a rugged and diatonic Epilogue of strange ideas about living, philosophy and symphonic works in New York, wrote this immense power and triumphant grandeur.” music. His chief loves were the piano and note in 1910 for Philip Hale’s annotation In the end, however, the author sums it up composing. More often than not, he com- on The Poem of Ecstasy in the program book with these words: “But Scriabin, notwith- bined the two; nearly all of his works were of the Boston Symphony Orchestra: “While standing all his explainers and annotators written for solo piano, but there were also I was in Switzerland during the summer of (blessed word!), is the champion of absolute a handful of large-scale orchestral composi- 1907 at Scriabin’s villa, he was all taken up music – music pure and simple – read what tions and: a concerto for piano and orches- with the work, and I watched its progress you like into it.” tra. In many of these works, he exploited with keen interest. The composer of the new harmonic ideas. Most striking of these Poème d’extase has sought to express therein Amirov: Azerbaijan Mugam (“Kyurdi was a system of chords constructed on inter- something of the emotional (and therefore Ovshari”) vals of a fourth instead of a third. musically communicable) side of his philoso- phy of life. Scriabin is neither a pantheist nor The only available information on the a theosophist, yet his creed includes ideas Azerbaijan composer, Fikret Dzhamil Amirov, somewhat related to each of these schools comes from the 1958 edition of Baker’s Biographical Dictionary of Musicians, which Azerbaijan Mugam, which bears the states that he was born in Kirovabad on Identifying subtitle Kyurdi Ovshari was com- November 22, 1922. In his youth, he played posed, like its predecessor, in 1948, and some of the native instruments and studied was first performed that same year in Baku. composition. His music reflects the influence The following year, it received the Stalin of Azerbaijan folk music and folk dances, Prize. Leopold Stokowski and the Houston and he has made many arrangements of Symphony Orchestra introduced the work to native folk songs. His list of compositions America on March 16, 1959. includes a double concerto for violin, piano and orchestra; variations for piano; a sym- The present suite is in six movements: phonic poem To the Memory of the Heroes 1. Introduction; 2. Ovshari; 3. Tesnif; 4. of the Greek National War; The Pledge of the Shakhanaz;·5. Kyurdi, and 6. Mani. The Korean Guerilla Fighter for voice and orches- titles refer to various Azerbaijan folk songs tra, and several suites based on mugama, or and folk dances. national modes. Original Liner Notes by PAUL AFFELDER Azerbaijan S. S. R. was one of the first Soviet states. It is a province on the south- western shore of the Caspian Sea and faces Daghestan and Georgia on the north, Armenia on the west and Iranian Azerbaijan on the south. The people who, until recently, were nomadic, have a language and cul- ture that show strong influences of Turkish, Persian and Armenian, although their offi- cial language is now Russian. As is the case with so much of the music of the East, that of Azerbaijan is governed by complicated systems of modes, scales and fixed melodic patterns, which are described by the word mugam. Actually, the mugam is associated with an ancient form of Azerbaijan music. In 1948, Amirov composed two sym- phonic suites based on two different types of mugam. As the basis for these works he used melodies which he had written down from the best authorities on Azerbaijan folklore. He tried to retain the originality and wealth of the musical creativity of the Azerbaijan people and enrich it by means of his sym- phonic arrangements. Some notes on the history of Everest Below is a graphic representation of this new sprocket gears engage these sprocket holes BELOCK Recording studios is utilized for Records and the digital remastering material. What you see here, your ears will affording a smoothness of motion that reduces recordings made anywhere in the world. By quickly verify when you listen to an EVER- “wow and flutter” to an absolute minimum. utilizing specially designed portable versions When Everest Records was founded by Harry EST recording. The film has another advantage in its great of EVEREST 35 mm equipment, EVEREST Belock in 1958 as a division of Belock Instru- tensile strength which effectively eliminates engineers are able to make recordings and ment Corp., the aim was to produce a cata- Notice that now EVEREST engineers have pitch changes due to “tape stretch”, a condi- maintain the rigid standards and excellence logue of stereo recordings of the highest pos- over 3 times the normal space available tion heretofore almost impossible to control. of quality available in the Studios. sible technical standard, with interesting and [than] on ¼” tape. This means distortion free, innovative classical repertoire played by some perfect sound. 35 mm magnetic film allows Drawing on the extensive experience in the The advanced engineering and special equip- of the best artists and orchestras. EVEREST engineers to make recordings with motion picture sound field BELOCK INSTRU- ment, in addition to meticulous attention MENT (of which EVEREST is a division), to detail, results in the EVEREST sound, a For the first Everest recording sessions in • No distortion from print through requested Westrex Corporation to build spe- sound that has been acclaimed as superb by 1958, an Ampex 300-3 half-inch three- • No distortion from lack of channel width cial equipment to EVEREST’S exacting critics and record enthusiasts throughout the channel recorder was used. Later on the label • Absolute minimum of “wow or flutter” specifications in order to accomplish these world. moved to use a Westrex 35 mm 3-track mag- • Highest possible signal to noise ratio advantages. This equipment includes the use netic film recorder, which had a wider possible • Greatest quality and dynamic range ever of special recording heads which afford com- Executive Producer: Mark Jenkins for Countdown dynamic range, less print-through, less tape recorded plete wide band frequency response beyond Media/Everest • Digital Remastering: Bernie stretch and less ‘wow and flutter’, and which that normally specified in any present-day Grundman at Bernie Grundman Mastering, was the basis for the highly acclaimed typical motion picture recording.