The name of Alexander Scriabin should appear more frequently on programs. His solo piano music turns up on recitals with some freqeuncy, I know, but his symphonically inclined works haven't received the attention they should around here -- at least not during my nine years in Baltimore. It's certainly high time we had an opportunity to plunge into that great orgy of sound, "The Poem of Ecstasy," not to mention the Symphony No. 3 ("The Divine Poem").
Scriabin had an extraordinary sense of tone color that influenced many others, and he knew how to create vivid musical structures. There's nothing quite like the great washes of sound he could unleash in his sumptuous orchestral scores. So let's get some Scriabin flowing here soon -- and let the more exposed Russian composers have a rest.
Here's a taste of "The Poem of Ecstasy":