It’s hard to find a more colourful personality than Alexander Scriabin when trawling through the history of pianist-composers. Trust me, I’ve tried. Born on Christmas Day, dying at Easter, and surrounded by controversy throughout his  life, Scriabin himself did little to discourage  people from seeing him as a kind of Messiah. He strongly believed that spiritual liberation could be achieved through art and the God experience attained through stimulation of various human senses.  

Alexander Scriabin

For his final piece, Mysterium, to prepare humanity for salvation, Scriabin wanted to synthesise all human senses via one orgiastic performance – the culmination of his life-long visions. Naturally, the performance was planned to last seven days in the foothills of the Himalayas, beginning with...