Scriabin – Piano Music
Soyeon Kate Lee
Naxos 8.573527
Review
The following is an excerpt from Keyed In (May 2016) which can be read in its entirety here.
Korean-American pianist Soyeon Kate Lee has a modest discography but a talent that deserves more exposure. Her newest recording Scriabin – Piano Music (Naxos 8.573527) is a deliberate choice of the composer’s lesser known works, and as such, a wonderful find. Scriabin’s language for the piano has its well-known Chopinesque accent. Much of it is late 19th-century but a few pieces are from the early 20th. The Two Pieces, Op.57 (1908) are the most contemporary of the set and Lee delights in all the gentle angularities of Scriabin’s melodies. She is always completely certain of where the most important material lies and highlights it artfully, even if only a passing note. Lee is very generous with her rubato, taking all the time to exploit hesitant moments for their greatest effect. Her consistently fluid technique is a pleasure to experience, especially in the Nocturne in D-Flat Major Op.9 No.2, written for the left hand alone.
While Scriabin made little of the dance nature of his Mazurkas and Polonaises, Lee nevertheless chooses to underscore this with a subtle pulse on the beat of certain measures as if to remind us of the missing choreography. She closes her recording with a remarkable piece Scriabin wrote at age 11. This Canon in D Minor already bears the distinctive melancholy of its Russian composer. This is a very engaging recording for its fine repertoire choice and thoughtful playing.
