Medtner: The Complete Solo Piano Recordings Vol. 2

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
Rachmaninoff called Medtner "the greatest composer of our time," but his old-fashioned traditionalism and abundance of notes tended to discourage both pianists and listeners. APR's reissues of Medtner's own recordings should change that assessment, though. A great virtuoso, he brings his own music to life with an understanding and technical security that elude most interpreters. The 14 short keyboard pieces here evince a faded charm and a seriousness of purpose that are fascinating. Medtner's rich tone, rhythmic flexibility, and precise articulation, neatly captured in Bryan Crimp's excellent transfers of recordings dating from 1936 and 1946, make for compelling listening. The major piece here is the Violin Sonata, expertly played with sweet-toned grace by Cecilia Hansen, one of Leopold Auer's favorite pupils, and Medtner himself. Highly recommended, as is the first volume in this series. --Dan Davis

Tracks:

Canzona Matinata, Op.39/4
Allegro Risoluto
(Poco Quazi Recitativo)
Tempo
Arabesque In A Major, Op. 7/2 (Tragedy Fragment)
Allegretto
Introduzione Mesto
Finale Allegro
Hymn In Praise Of Toil, Op.49/1 (Before Work)
Novelle In C Major, Op.17/2
Marchen (Skazka/Fairy Tale) In D Major, Op.51/1
Marchen (Skazka/Fairy Tale) In F Major, Op.26/3
Primavera, Op.39/3

Medtner: The Complete Solo Piano Recordings Vol. 1

Average customer rating:

An Essential Medtner Recording

Medtner: The Complete Solo Piano Recordings Vol. 1

Manufacturer: Apr UK
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music
Similar Items:

Medtner: The Complete Solo Piano Recordings Vol. 2
The Complete Solo Piano Recordings of Nicolas Medtner, Vol 3
Medtner: Piano Works, Vol. 4
The Piano Works of Nikolai Medtner, Vol. 6
Medtner: Piano Works Vol. 5

ASIN: B00000FDC3
Release Date: 1998-11-24

Customer Reviews:

An Essential Medtner Recording.......2005-03-31

Nicolai Medtner, a contemporary and friend of Rachmaninoff, is perhaps the greatest composer for piano since Beethoven. A virtuoso concert pianist of the highest caliber in his own right, Medtner composed relentlessly tonal piano music of great beauty and intense rhythmic complexity at a time when atonal music was coming into vogue in the Western art music world. Although stunningly beautiful, his compositions were thought to be too "old fashioned" in the West and so were brushed aside by "serious" music scholars, causing Medtner to live in poverty during his exile in the West following the Bolshevik Revolution. Nevertheless, Medtner's Russian musical contemporaries fervently admired both his compositions and his piano playing; Glazunov even called Medtner something like "The Guardian of Eternal Art."

This CD presents for the first time Medtner's earliest commercial audio recordings, made for Columbia Records in 1930/31 but never released. These are transfers from Medtner's own test pressings on shellac discs; the original masters were long since destroyed. Lovingly cleaned up and restored, these recordings are the real deal, an authentic revelation of Medtner's interpretive intent in his compositions (compositions which have no established performance tradition in the West). Not only do they represent an invaluable resource for pianists who wish to tackle Medtner's compositions, they are wonderfully enjoyable to listen to, tremendous recordings of some of the most beautiful music I have ever heard.

Now, obviously, these are archival, not modern, recordings. The restoration presents them beautifully, but they are still cleaned up transfers from questionably preserved 78s so don't expect perfect clarity.

Aside from Medtner's own compositions, the disc also includes Medtner's performance of one Beethoven piano sonata, no.23 in f, op.57, which is masterful.

Listening to Medtner's piano playing is like opening a door into a vanished world, the Late-Romantic musical world from which sprang Artur Rubinstein and Vladimir Horowitz. Listening to this recording, I feel like I am touching the 19th century directly. The wild variations in tempo and dynamics in Medtner's piano playing are a revelation, both enraging and delightful simultaneously. Modern Western piano performances seem both self indulgent and rhythmically square in comparison. And Medtner's own music... Stunning. Fantastic.

This is an awesome recording which I listen to again and again. Highly Recommended.

Medtner: The Complete Solo Piano Recordings Vol. 2

Average customer rating:

Medtner: The Complete Solo Piano Recordings Vol. 2

Manufacturer: APR
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music
ASIN: B00004LMB8
Release Date: 1999-01-01

Amazon.com

Rachmaninoff called Medtner "the greatest composer of our time," but his old-fashioned traditionalism and abundance of notes tended to discourage both pianists and listeners. APR's reissues of Medtner's own recordings should change that assessment, though. A great virtuoso, he brings his own music to life with an understanding and technical security that elude most interpreters. The 14 short keyboard pieces here evince a faded charm and a seriousness of purpose that are fascinating. Medtner's rich tone, rhythmic flexibility, and precise articulation, neatly captured in Bryan Crimp's excellent transfers of recordings dating from 1936 and 1946, make for compelling listening. The major piece here is the Violin Sonata, expertly played with sweet-toned grace by Cecilia Hansen, one of Leopold Auer's favorite pupils, and Medtner himself. Highly recommended, as is the first volume in this series. --Dan Davis

Music Track:

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