January is the birth month of Russian composer Alexander Scriabin (1872-1915). His early piano works were heavily influenced by Chopin whereas his later output took a turn toward the abstract and atonal, influenced by his interest in mysticism.
Part of that "mystical" philosphy was an obsession with what was possibly a faux-synesthesia in music, not necessarily like the real synesthesia of the protagonist in my Scott Drayco series, but more of a conceptual idea of keys and the circle of fifths assigned to various colors (and possibly based on Sir Isaac Newton's Opticks). However, there is some debate on the issue of whether or not Scriabin was a true synesthete.
At any rate, here's a performance of Scriabin's Etude Op.8 No.12 by Vladimir Horowitz:
Comments