The 25-minute first movement of Scriabin's Divine Poem is often something of an endurance test. Not so under Jarvi. His grasp of it, indeed, of the whole symphony sounds completely instinctive. He seems to know when to relax and when to push ahead and by exactly how much. Of course, a lot of it is Jarvian cunning at its best (which is to say that it is never self-conscious): the transition (strings at fig. 6, 1'50'') to the first movement's second subject is beautifully stretched and shaded and the moment so well chosen for such treatment, and the first violins' flowing accompaniment to the ensuing second subject in the woodwind has Jarvi encouraging his violins to play slightly louder than marked, enlivening the texture, and, more importantly, enhancing a feeling of forward movement. On the whole, dynamics and contrasts of mood are acutely observed, and most important of all, the tempos all relate.
He is about two minutes faster than Sinopoli (DG) overall, and it is in the first movement that the gains are greatest. The only unwarranted accelerando is right at the end of the movement (up to fig. 48 from 22'15''). I also wondered, after the spurious cymbals in his equally inspirational Chandos recording of the Second Symphony ((CD) CHAN8462, 10/86), whether there would be extra percussion here as well. Thankfully not, though there is an unmarked crescendo timpani roll before the reappearance of the motto at the end of the first movement's exposition (5'10'', and at the same point in the recapitulation).
The Danish National Radio Orchestra plays magnificently. The strings may not have quite the body of tone or accuracy of their New York rivals for Sinopoli, but they possess the requisite silky tone for the work's erogenous zones, and are aptly vibrant at the climaxes, as are the trumpets (thrilling for their rising sixth summonses). Woodwind don't feature quite as prominently in the birdsong bedecked textures of the slow movement as Sinopoli's, but the overall balance is most musically judged, and the sound is wide and handsome.
Sinopoli's logical coupling is an overwhelming Poem of Ecstasy. Jarvi is, as ever, more enterprising. Arensky taught theory and composition to Scriabin (and Rachmaninov) at the Moscow Conservatoire, and these charming character pieces form a perfect foil to the symphony's heady expression. ''The Scholar'' recalls Elgar's arrangements of Bach and Handel. ''The Dreamer'' appropriately offers harmonies (at the end of the first phrase of the melody) that one associates with Scriabin, and ''The Dancer'' is an unashamedly unidiomatic Spanish dance in the best Russian tradition. Colourful, semi-precious gems, but gems none the less.'