SCRIABIN · TCHAIKOVSKY

As part of the 7th batch of our Original Source Series we release Claudio Abbado’s recording of Scriabin’s The Poem of Ecstasy with the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Nowadays, the work is representative of everything Scriabin produced as a composer. The oversized nature of his compositions virtually overwhelms the listener. Writer Boris Pasternak confessed: “I could not listen to this music without tears”. Tchaikovsky describes much more earthly joys and pains in his fantasy overture ‘Romeo and Juliet’. Balakirev had drawn the composer’s attention to Shakespeare’s tragedy. In gratitude, Tchaikovsky dedicated the score to him.