Scriabin Symphony No.1 on YouTube

[Alan Howe]

Rather good, I thought:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BEUjVq8rcn4&t=1976s

Ana Hasler (mezzo-soprano), Vincente Ombuena (tenor)
Spanish Radio Symphony Orchestra RTVE and Choir
conducted by Aleksandar Marković

[eschiss1]

What would you say stands out about this performance, if I may ask? I agree it's a rather good piece, especially at that stage in his career!

[Alan Howe]

It's well played by a Spanish orchestra (which never seems to be recorded commercially) and the ending is truly uplifting, almost rivalling the close of Mahler 2. Outside Russia, how often does this piece get a public performance? And in Spain - who knew?

[eschiss1]

Well, for example, according to nyphil.org it's been performed by the New York Philharmonic almost 100 times between 1929 and 2022 (sometimes in private concerts). Not that often, but more often than one might think.

[eschiss1]

I would add, too, three BBC Proms (most recently 2010, but only the 2010 performed the work complete).  The other two Proms contained just the fourth movement Scherzo.

[Maury]

I went to the link cited by eschiss1 and only found 2 performances by the NY Phil of the Scriabin Symphony 1. May I ask where he searched and what terms did he use? I searched in the digital archive for scriabin symphony 1. it retrieved 13 hits of which only 2 were the symphony 1.

I am a big fan of Scriabin's 3 numbered symphonies but rarely see them listed. It is mostly the Extase that gets performed.

[eschiss1]

You're right about only 2 performances by the NY Phil, I should have double-checked that result. Hrm. Only in 1907 (see the program notes here, brief but not a bad read?) and 2002. Thanks for the correction. (At least, that's by searching by programs, but that seems a reasonable search.) The orchestra has played his symphony no.3 9 times between 1922 and 2007, though, it seems...
And archives.nypl.org lists 58 concerts with "Raff", unfortunately no more recently than Toscanini performing his 3rd symphony in 1931.

[Maury]

Thanks for confirming the search result. Scriabin is another Glazunov where the numbered symphonies are recorded sporadically but almost never performed. And yet they are as good as the main repertoire.

[Alan Howe]

My interest has been piqued by the work of these conductors, one a Finn (Slobodeniouk) and the other a Serb (Marković), both working in Spain where they have succeeded in getting Scriabin programmed - and to great effect. I think the recording companies should be packing up their equipment and jetting off to Spain sometime soon...

Mind you, I notice that Slobodeniouk has been busy recording Stravinsky for BIS in Spain, but that's not for this forum.

[eschiss1]

I'd forgive him for recording a lot of 20th (including Holmboe...!) and 21st century (Aho) music if I thought this was something that actually required forgiveness instead of thanks. But it's true that his name has caught my attention before as a general thing, his conducting and recording career seems to be off to a good start.
Bachtrack suggests he's conducting some good programs this year with the New Zealand Symphony in, of course, New Zealand, which inconveniently for -me- is halfway around the world, but. (Though he'll be in Paris, Chicago, Minneapolis and Boston in 2025.)

[Alan Howe]

I'd like to see him with his Spanish orchestra in A Coruña.

[eschiss1]

Bachtrack has them (Galician orchestra, Mr. Slobodeniouk) doing Stravinsky (the Symphony of Psalms) and Sibelius (symphony no.5) this Friday.