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Op.54 - Symphony No.4, The Poem of Ecstasy

Ecstasy of Saint Theresa, Bernini (1645)
Ecstasy of Saint Theresa, Bernini (1645)

The last Symphony by Scriabin, structured in six sections (Introduction, Sections, Coda), is seamlessly fused into a single movement — a concept already anticipated in the uninterrupted, three-part structure of the Third Symphony.

An orgiastic poem, it explores transcendence through spiritual awakening, the realization of individuality, dreams, trance, and erotic ecstasy. The music evokes the great masters of modernist orchestral writing (Ravel, Stravinsky, Debussy…), blending impressionistic textures with visionary ambition. The almost omnipresent whole-tone color, brought about by the mystic chord, creates a continuous tension and sense of longing, only released in the final, ecstatic C major outburst — an ejaculatory resolution of overwhelming intensity.

The symphony is accompanied by a three-hundred-line poem written by Scriabin himself, elaborating on the soul’s journey toward transcendence through ecstasy. As numerology played a crucial role in Scriabin’s occultist philosophy — one of his major intellectual pursuits at the time — the number 36 appears repeatedly in the structural framework of the work, infusing the composition with symbolic significance.

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