Alexander Scriabin completed his Poème-Nocturne, Op. 61 for solo piano in 1912. This is among his many less adventurous works. Though the composer had messianic pretensions that often marred his clear creative gifts, he also had flights of clarity that were not revolutionary but displayed a talent for piano composition. The Poème-Nocturne displays a profound sensitivity to the previous hundred years of piano literature, as well as a voice that is intriguing. In essence, it is solidly written, beautiful music. That having been said, listeners are encouraged to investigate the music of Scriabin without paying much heed to the bizarre caste of media-pundits and faux-scholars who have written about this troubled composer with a fanciful gullibility that has often been outright disgraceful.

The Poème-Nocturne offers a sensual and intriguing musical atmosphere, slightly less than eight minutes in duration. Like all of Scriabin's mature work, it has a distinctly French flavor to it, featuring textures that are reminiscent of both Chopin and Debussy. In this work, the passionate yearning and the comfort of shadows, dominant in the nocturnes of Chopin, are effectively reordered. The yearning is replaced by ambiguity, emphasized by a large vocabulary of ornamental effect. These ornaments can be found among the works of Debussy. Scriabin seems to take the groundbreaking textures and ornaments that Debussy seeming always capable of discovering, and applies them to the gentle, discreet sensuality of Chopin's nocturnes. With a heightened diversity of sound, and an absence of aria-like departures in Scriabin's Poème-Nocturne, the romantic yearning is replaced by something of an intrigue among lovers. The piano seems to almost describe something perhaps carnal between two people. They may be coupling, sleeping, whispering; Scriabin's sound seems to demonstrate a fundamental truth, that other people's love lives are impossible to actually penetrate. This natural shield that protects the privacy of all lovers is a beautiful thing to hear sensitively illustrated. Demonstrating that one cannot see thwarts the romantic idea that the artist is limitless. This discreet, modernist truth reveals that the composer, like Mahler and Schoenberg, was attempting to be as honest as possible. Scriabin was not the genius these men were, but works such as Poème-Nocturne demonstrate sensitivity, talent, and insight.

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