Scriabin through Sudbin’s eyes: a luminous and intimate portrait

Album: Vers la flamme
Composer: Alexander Scriabin
Piano: Yevgeny Sudbin
Label: BIS Records
Catalogue number: BIS-2538
Total time: 78’53
Works included:
– Vers la flamme, Op. 72
– Sonata No. 4, Op. 30
– Preludes from Opp. 11 and 16
– Études from Opp. 8 and 42
– Fantasy in B minor, Op. 28
– Mazurka, Op. 25 No. 3
– Poème, Op. 32 No. 1
– Sonata No. 10, Op. 70
– Prelude and Nocturne for the Left Hand, Op. 9
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By Damián Autorino
Editor at Moto Perpetuo

In Vers la flamme, Yevgeny Sudbin offers a personal and wide-ranging portrait of Alexander Scriabin. The title piece, Vers la flamme, composed in 1914, stands as one of the composer’s final and most visionary works—evoking a cosmic ascent toward annihilation through fire. Around it, Sudbin assembles a program spanning Scriabin’s early, middle, and late periods, anchored by the Fourth and Tenth Sonatas and complemented by selections from Opp. 8, 11, 16, 25, 28, 32, and 42. These include études, preludes, a mazurka, and the Fantasy in B minor, as well as the Prelude and Nocturne for the Left Hand, composed after Scriabin injured his right hand.

While the album includes some of Scriabin’s most iconic works, Sudbin also draws attention to lesser-recorded repertoire that reveals other facets of the composer’s evolving voice—from late Romantic lyricism to harmonically adventurous, mystical textures. His own booklet text accompanies the album with vivid reflections on Scriabin’s spiritual worldview, philosophical obsessions, and ideas of cosmic eroticism. It’s not only a performance, but also an invitation into the world of an artist deeply immersed in his subject.

Sudbin’s relationship with Scriabin’s music dates back to his 2007 album (BIS-1568), which featured the Second, Fifth, and Ninth Sonatas, as well as études, mazurkas, and miniatures. He later recorded the Piano Concerto with the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra under Andrew Litton, and Le Poème de l’extase with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra conducted by Lan Shui (BIS-1758). Born in St Petersburg in 1980 and now based in London, Sudbin performs regularly with major orchestras and is a professor at the Royal Academy of Music. His BIS discography has received international acclaim for its imagination, clarity, and individuality.