So...This is the first piece I ever played by Krein and I discovered this like an hour ago. What absolutely amazing music. But I certainly know this, being op.2, is a lot different to his later composed works, similar to Scriabin. This was composed in 1902, and I find this astonishing. I think this is a very mature composition, a characterful and strong, meaningful piece, where every moment has its place and usefulness. Especially the conception of the end (last systems) is special to me. Sometimes I just have the feeling: This was composed by a true master!
And Krein (1883-1951) was a Soviet composer. In 1896, at the early age of 14, Alexander Krein entered the Moscow Conservatory where his studies included cello classes with Alexander von Glehn and composition lessons with Sergei Taneyev and Boleslav Yavorsky. His first works were published by P. Jurgenson in 1901. Notice that this piece was composed only a year later (though released a lot later). Throughout the 1920s, Krein was widely regarded as the leader of a Jewish national school in Russia (which included his brother Grigori and his nephew Julian). Krein's pioneering spirit had led him to incorporate the intonations and styles of both sacred and secular Jewish music into a relatively advanced idiom that was as influenced by French impressionism as it was by the music of his friend Alexander Scriabin. (This sentence seems to be obligatory when talking about Krein :) I don't know anything about the relevance of this for his early work, I just enjoyed ;)
Also I can't say how much Krein was influenced by early Scriabin, because early Scriabin really is very Chopin influenced ("Alexander Chopin") and this doesn't seem Chopin to me at all. The middle part is a vast landscape, fresh and open harmonies in the style of Stanchinsky. (Sorry I know we can hear Chopin here somehow, but sometimes I feel people say Chopin can be heard everywhere).
