Is it a sin to listen to Scriabin?

Ten or fifteen years ago I spent a couple hundred dollars on a new mountain bike. Every so often I would take it out, ride a couple miles and think "if only I could guarantee I would ride it, I'd get a really nice road bike." But then I wouldn't touch the “cheap” (relatively speaking) mountain bike again for years. Last month, after much hand-wringing I finally broke down and bought the bike of my dreams (used), a Bianchi SL3. Sometimes the actual investment propels action. I am pleased to report a dozen or so rides over recent weeks.

What does this have to do with music, Scriabin, or spirituality, you may ask?

Good question.

I enjoy listening to my iPod while cycling. In fact, it's hard to imagine what life was like before I had nearly my entire 500+ CD music library within thumb's reach. A few years of my life b.c. revolved largely around classical music (I'm a pianist, by trade) and so my music library reflects that heavy influence. Even today, ten years after my conversion to Pentecostalism, I listen to classical much more often than gospel music.

Recently, I dialogued with Ann Ahrens on the subject of ungodly classical music. Alexander Scriabin was a late 19th-century Russian composer who in later years grew increasingly interested in pagan mysticism. Ann had mentioned to me her difficulty in playing his music, and I wondered aloud tongue-mostly-in-cheek whether it was a sin to listen to his music. We went back and forth, discussing also the godly music of Bach and the ungodly music of Stravinsky's Rite of Spring. In our dialogue I had expressed concern about a manifestation of evil I had thought might exist in Stravinsky's "Rite" based on an experience that could be described as "terrifying." One late night during my teen years, I had the CD playing as I was going to sleep. During a frightening moment in the piece, the music was incorporated into a nightmare I was having. Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately) I don't remember more.

Ann and I didn't come to any conclusions, though, regarding the existence of evil in music. Shortly after our dialogue I spent a bike ride home listening to Rite of Spring again (it had been years since I gave it a careful listen). This time around I didn't experience or associate any "evil" spirit in the music although I did imagine at one point a frenzied dance of false-god worshippers around a fire. But then I turned my imagination to this music in a biblical context. I envisioned Abraham's long slow ascent to the top of the mountain where he was supposed to kill Isaac and the moment of truth where he actually raised the knife in obedience to God's command.

Last week I downloaded Scriabin's complete preludes from iTunes and gave a few of them a listen. I did not experience any spiritual discomfort from the experience. What do we use to discern good from evil in music, particularly music without a specific "program"? Is it simply a personal judgment call based loosely on your perception of the composer/artist's spirituality? Shouldn't there be something more concrete? Or, to cast a slightly different shade on the subject, does or can "absolute music" (i.e. music without lyrics or a story) glorify God? If so, is the onus of worship on the part of the performer, the listener, both or neither?

My iPod cost double the mountain bike, and my road bike doubled even the iPod. How can I justify such expensive personal frivolities? Are either of these “things” doing anything for the glory of God's Kingdom? Not really. But they did give legs to this post, so perhaps that's something.