Vol Vers L’ Etoile (Flight To The Star)

Vol Vers L’ Etoile (Flight To The Star) features pianist Anastasia Safonova performing the music of Alexander Scriabin.  Safonova has proven her knowledge, devotion and understanding of this repertoire. Etcetera Records is proud to present this album of the composer’s music.

In Vol Vers L’ Etoile (Flight To The Star) Safonova combines works from three main periods of Scriabin’s life with compositions by Boris Pasternak, best known as a poet and writer, Nobel laureate for “Doctor Zhivago” and Nicolai Medtner – a great pianist and composer and a leading figure in Russia in the early days of the last century.

2022 marks the 150th anniversary of Alexander Scriabin’s birth on 6th January 1872. Few composers of western art music have provided as much fascination. Scriabin offered a unique blend of esoteric mysticism, ethereal pianism, progressive harmonic technique, philosophically driven composition, color-music experiments, and more. For 150 years he has stimulated lively scholarly debate and new musical experiences.

Pianist Anastasia Safonova tells us “The early years of the 20th century. The sun sets and night begins to fall in the streets of Moscow: the lamplighter is finishing his round. People hurry not to miss the start of a concert at the Pasternaks’ home; this was a meeting point for painters, musicians, writers, and poets, where they played music, recited their works, and discussed everything, a manifestation of the great outburst of creativity that occurred at the turn of the century. Scriabin’s playing is nervous and inspired, delicate and refined. He fascinates his audience, not only with his playing but also with his compositions. Lev Tolstoy, the great Russian writer, praised Scriabin’s music, calling it “a sincere expression of genius”.

My wish for this album is that it might provide an insight into the special period in Russian cultural life between the two revolutions. I would like to end this introduction with a quote from the great Russian artist Wassily Kandinsky: “Every work of art is a child of its time, although often it is also the parent of our emotions. Every cultural period therefore creates its own art, which can never be repeated.”

Anastasia Safonova – Piano