Scriabin Symphony No. 1 and No. 2

There is no denying Valery Gergiev’s commitment to the music, and if you have the matching coupling of Scriabin symphonies 3 and 4, you need not hesitate

(Gergiev) turns them into masterpieces… it sounds quite old fashioned with other conductors, but Gergiev adds this sense of flight that is very Scriabin-esque that looks to the future, and so it becomes wonderful… there’s a great inner sense of freedom with this music that Gergiev manages to create

(Second Symphony) Fine playing by the members of the LSO, including ardent violin solos, paired with avian twittering of the flute in the third movement

Gergiev goes for atmosphere, and delivers engaging and stimulating readings. The London Symphony Orchestra is on top form throughout, with the strings producing a weighty, dark tone and the woodwind solos a particular delight. Chorus and soloists also make impressive contributions to the First Symphony's finale. The SACD sound quality is excellent…showing the orchestra off to its full potential

Gergiev gets it right; even more impressive is the quality of this DSD recording, subtly engineered by James Mallinson and Classic Sound. The finely calibrated playing of the LSO is a joy to hear; they sound so idiomatic too. Gergiev is steady but never dull; he also finds warmth and suppleness in the music.. Even more striking is the palpable sense of destination, of impending apotheosis, of a musical and emotional vortex that’s impossible to escape. Simon Halsey’s ideally distant singers sound genuinely ecstatic. The earth certainly moved for me, and I daresay it will for you, too…

Music like a drug…captured on two CDs of overwhelming sound…an indulgence of sound – if music is a drug that goes beyond Wagner then it has to be this

Gergiev manages the ascent and descent between the individual movements very well and they are full of tension. The LSO is at its best and makes very colourful and intense sounds. Particularly well done is the sensual, impressionistic third movement

Valery Gergiev and the London Symphony Orchestra bring to a close their revelatory Scriabin cycle with the release of Symphonies Nos. 1 & 2. Epic in scope, Scriabin's highly original First Symphony was composed at the turn of the twentieth century. The ambitious work consists of six movements, the last of which features a chorus and two vocal soloists, beautifully sung in this recording by Ekaterina Sergeeva, Alexander Timchenko and the London Symphony Chorus.

In the monumental choral finale, which brings the symphony to a rousing conclusion, Scriabin uses a text of his own composition to praise the supreme power of art: 'Come, all peoples of the world, Let us sing the praises of Art! Glory to Art, Glory forever!' Premiered two years after Symphony No 1, the Second Symphony contains echoes of Strauss, Tchaikovsky and Wagner, alongside Scriabin's own deeply personal sound. While relatively more restrained in style than Scriabin's other symphonic output, over the course of its five movements there are sweeping climaxes, swirling colors and passages of majestic intensity.