wanna get into medtner? CHECK THIS OUT - free recording

[stevie]

though many of you guys know medtner, many of you havent even heard his music.

this piece ive uploaded is absolutely stunning, perfect, and very moving.
the piano writing in it is very colourful, idiomatic, and uniquely beautiful.

this was the 1st medtner piece i heard, and on the basis of hearing this alone, i invested in a 4cd set of his complete sonatas, i hope you will enjoy this piece with as much enthusiasm as i have -

https://s48.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=3KV0V27B9X5350ZKTF8XYFQMDK

[prometheus]

Medtner is better than Rachmaninoff. It's true, Rachmaninoff agreed :p

Which complete sonata's did you buy? Tozer? Hamelin? (Not sure if Hamelin did a complete recording.)

[stevie]

hamelin, who is also playing this piece i posted.

i didnt mention the playing on this recording, equally as stunning as the music itself.

[thalbergmad]

I got the complete concerto's by Madge and was not impressed.

Is there a better recording??

[prometheus]

I haven't had a chance to compare but Demidenko seems to come highly regarded when it comes to Medtner.

Is there actually anything Madge does play well? Why do we all know his name anyway?

[stevie]

I haven't had a chance to compare but Demidenko seems to come highly regarded when it comes to Medtner.

Is there actually anything Madge does play well? Why do we all know his name anyway?

yep, demidenko is great too, but still hamelin is awesome

[stevie]

I got the complete concerto's by Madge and was not impressed.

Is there a better recording??

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA

seriously, madge is a JOKE, go for hamelin

actually , one of the funniest things ive ever heard, is that HAMELIN was MADGE's pageturner in a live performance of the OC!
talk about a king spoon-feeding a pauper..

[prometheus]

Did Hamilin do the concerto's too?

(Hamelin needs to do the OC )

[stevie]

the medtner concerti?

he hasnt recorded any, but he plays the 2nd at least

[BoliverAllmon]

why is medtner not more well known?

[arensky]

Thank you Stevie!

I was waiting for Medtner to come up in this forum; In college I bought Micheal Ponti's recording of the 3rd Concerto on Vox Turnabout because I was curious about things I'd read; I fell in love with the music forever the first time I played the recording. I started buying Medtner records when ever I saw them as they were hard to come by then; towards the end of college a piano girlfriend who had dropped out of our school took me to a concert in Cambridge MA by Eduard Conus, who had been a student of Medtner and then Neuhaus after Medtner left Russia. The Conus family were active in the cultural life of late czarist Russia, and evantually fled, like Rachmaninov and Medtner. It appears Mr. Conus, who was at least 80 when I heard what turned out to be his last concert, did not care for modern music(i.e. 12 tone and Stravinsky type stuff) and had been teaching privately and concertizing in different cities around the world since the 1930's, when he had been in London, near Medtner. He evantually ended up in the Boston area, teaching and giving one or two concerts a year, shunning publicity and going his own way.
I stupidly declined an invitation to attend one of my girlfriends lessons as an observer(she was REALLY weird and getting on my nerves). Anyway this cat Conus was a student of Medtner, and in this recital I saw played Sonata Remincenza and Danza Festiva, among other things by Scriabin and Beethoven(op.110). It was like going to a concert in the teens or 20's, he played in the old Russian style; an unforgettable experience.

Has anyone heard of this guy? He was an extraordinary pianist; I have seen references to the Conus family in books about Scriabin but I can't remember where or which.

I'm glad to see that Medtner is enjoying a rennaisance. He deserves it.

Have any of you heard his recordings; he was one of the great pianists of all time.

[arensky]

YO, MEDTNERHEADS!!!!!!!!! Check out the new poll Medtner Concerti!!!!

[mlsmithz]

I read somewhere that Horowitz was one of the more well-known advocates of Medtner, though I don't know if this advocacy extended to actually recording his music rather than just singing its praises.  At any rate, I would have loved to have purchased Hamelin's recording of the complete sonatas when I decided to buy them, but unfortunately economy pushed me toward the Tozer recordings. (According to the published version available in my university library, Hamelin and Tozer both contributed to amassing a complete collection of the sonatas - I think Hamelin had some of the autograph manuscripts, while Tozer advised the publishers about performance tips.  This collection is where I read of Horowitz' fondness for Medtner.) Well, the Tozer isn't half bad (no, cynics, it's not all bad either), and I have plenty of other recordings by Hamelin to compensate for it.  Still pondering investing in the Hyperion discs of the Medtner concerti at the moment.

[stevie]

im afraid i havent heard medtner's own recordings, thought i would love to sometime


medtner's music isnt more well known for a number of reasons.
firstly, he didnt become anywhere near as famous a pianist as rachmaninov was...
2nd - he valued his own artistic integrity over money, he even accused rachmaninov of 'selling-out'
3rd - the music itself isnt as appealing on 1st listen as rach's, and it takes many listens to become accustomed to his unqieu style

despite being tonally somewhat backwards-looking, his music is often quite innovative and ahead of its time rhythmically - notice rhythms that sound like they could come from a rock riff, or a world-music group.

about horowitz - he played about all of the sonatas in private, and played a couple in concert, but never recorded any.
he did record a couple of the faily tales though.


a couple other major pianists are promoting medtner's music today too, boris berezovsky and evgeny kissin especially.

[arensky]

Medtner's innovations in Sonata form are astonishing. I only have a minute, so I'll be brief this time .

Take the 1st and 3rd Concerti, which use the same basic structure. These pieces are in sonata, rondo and theme and variation form at the same time! Now I've never sat down with the scores and done an arenskyschenkerian analysis (my own way, derived from Schenker, of figuring out what's going on in any given musical structure whether it's "All the Things you Are", op.101 or "Noctuelles"). But if you listen in sonata form mode, it's there, same with the other two forms. This is one of the reasons his music is so hard to understand at first, there's a hell of a lot happening all at the same time! Also he pulls off these compositional tours de force with very simple material, derived from Russian folk song (with very slick sophisticated harmonization).  I believe this has led many listeners to dismiss Medtner as overwritten with a poverty of thematic invention. Well Beethoven's themes aren't always so great either! It's what he does with them, the building! It's the same with Medtner, who idolized beethoven above all other composers and strove to emulate him. In fact, I believe the only works Medtner would perform that weren't his own were the Beethoven Fourth Concerto and the Appasionata Sonata, of which he made an extraordinary recording in 1945

Oh, I said I'd be brief Medtner is a topic I get carried away with . Anyway, Beethoven "built" (composed ) music primarily with motives, Medtner used pretty melodies with very lush, sophisticated post-romantic chord changes and harmonic settings. His vocabulary led to his being ignored by the mid-20th Century Music establishment(who have driven our art form  to near death in intensive care, so to speak; hope they're happy! ) and their intellectual BS. They are not rotting in hell; they are rotting now, while still alive!

I'll be back tonight, must practice and teach.