Alexander Scriabin(1872-1915)
    Complete Etudes for Piano

Pro Piano 224510
Recorded 1995
Chitose Okashiro, Piano
TT 64:24

Naxos 8.553070
Recorded 1994
Alexander Paley, Piano
TT 59:46

The Okashiro and Paley discs share the same program with the Piers Lane
recording on Hyperion, all twenty-six of Scriabin's Piano Etudes.  Both
discs have some fine features and some drawbacks.  Since I have already
gone through in Part 1 a description of each etude, I'll get right to the
performances.

Okashiro is extremely bold and distinct with her articulation; that's
good up to a point.  She displays a great amount of rhythmic vitality and
interesting rhythmic patterns; that's good up to a point.  The problem is
that it all sounds like Okashiro playing Okashiro.  There's a large degree
of 'flash' and the production has a slick quality to it.  I sense hardly
any affinity with Scriabin's life or music.  Her low point is her
performances of the Opus 65 etudes which are much too slow; she also
abandons the rhythmic vitality she consistently displays in the earlier
etudes.  In most of her performances throughout the disc, her 'points of
emphasis' I mentioned in Part 1 are of her own making.

There are factors which mitigate the negative aspects of Okashiro's
interpretations.  She is highly virtuosic and quite interesting in a
generic way.  The best aspect of the disc is the recorded sound which is
absolutely stunning.  The clarity, definition, depth, and crispness are
at levels greater than any other piano recording I've heard.  You could
say that the entire production is a stunning one in both the sound and
performance categories.  However, it all has little to do with Scriabin.
Piers Lane might not be one of the great Scriabin interpreters, but he's
much closer to the mark than Okashiro.

The reasons I paired Okashiro with Paley for this review is how different
they are from one another.  Okashiro is bold, Paley is subdued.  Okashiro
streaks through many passages, Paley takes his sweet time about it.
Okashiro's sound is exceptional, Paley's is comparatively muddy and
lacking much in depth and brilliance.

Given Paley's subdued conception of the etudes, I can't give his disc
a hearty recommendation.  Yet, there's one area where I prefer it to
Okashiro's and Lane's, and it's the most important of all - attempting to
locate and convey the real Scriabin.  His success may be spotty, but Paley
strikes me as wanting to enter Scriabin's soul.  Totally unlike Okashiro,
Paley gets better as Scriabin's music evolves.  Although Paley beautifies
the Opus 2 etude, he otherwise does not prioritize beauty or virtuosity.
His concentration is on giving us the music of Scriabin.

Don's Conclusions: For those who eat up fantastic sound and virtuosity,
the disc from Chitose Okashiro should prove very enjoyable; just don't
start thinking that you're really listening to Scriabin.  Alexander Paley's
disc has conception and price in its favor; it wouldn't be a bad way at all
to become familiar with Scriabin's piano music.

In Part 3, I will review the Magaloff recording of the Etudes, and we will
be on a more rewarding journey than Lane, Paley, and Okashiro have to
offer.

Don Satz
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