The dazzling cosmos of Scriabin’s The Divine Poem

Vasily Petrenko conducts the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in a programme which opens in the half lit world of Rachmaninov's The Isle of the Dead and ends in the blazing light of Scriabin's Divine Poem. In between those Russian masterpieces comes a concerto for three horns by Joe Hisashi, the 'John Williams of Japanese music.'

Rachmaninov’s The Isle of the Dead was inspired by a black and white reproduction of Arnold Böcklin’s painting of the same name, a painting that was then so popular that prints of it were hanging up in the studies of Sigmund Freud and Vladimir Lenin. Böcklin himself described it as: ‘A dream picture, it must produce such a stillness that one would be awed by a knock on the door,’ and Rachmaninov captures its eerie atmosphere to perfection.
It takes a special sort of genius to create a whole new musical universe; everything about Scriabin’s Third Symphony (The Divine Poem) is larger than life, from the enormous orchestra to the galactic ambition of his inspiration. It's music that Scriabin described as ‘ecstatic’, ‘drunken’ and even ‘divine.’
And those two Russian works by composers who were both friends and rivals makes a brilliant counterpart to Joe Hisaishi (of Studio Ghibli fame) and his virtuosic new Concerto for 3 Horns.

Presented by Georgia Mann and recorded live at London's Royal Festival.

Rachmaninov: The Isle of the Dead Op.29
Joe Hisaishi: The Border (Concerto for 3 Horns and Orchestra)
Interval
Scriabin: Symphony no. 3 in C major Op.43 (The Divine Poem)

Alexander Edmundson, Ben Hulme and Katy Woolley (horns)
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
Vasily Petrenko - Conductor

To listen on most smart speakers, just say "ask BBC Sounds to play Radio 3 in Concert."