Vers la flamme (Poème), Op. 72

Scriabin's ideal of music as part of a synthesis of the arts, raising people to a higher level of consciousness, is particularly apparent in his late work “Vers la flamme” op. 72. The poème opens with static, rough chords, and then slowly but steadily rises from the depths to the bright light above. Diverse levels of sound in changing rhythms gradually move above one another and create a suction-like tension. At the close, tremolos and fanfares tower up to a blazing conflagration of orchestral intensity. The Scriabin expert Valentina Rubcova knowledgeably sheds light on this suggestive work in the accompanying texts to this Henle Urtext edition.