Medtner

[fred smalls]

 Ok. So I bought his piano concertos just becuase I had never heard of him and wasnted something new... they turned out to be my favourite piano concertos becuase of their extreme complexity and amazing passion, not to mention how good Medtner is at ending pieces!!!  I just bought his complete piano sonatas by Hamelin... WOW... these have got to be my favourite pieces of music ever composed.  The complexity of their rhythms, the richness of the harmonies and the amazing range of different between each one, not to mention their AMAZING endings.... It's incredibly painfull to see how neglected Medtner is... how lucky I was too accidently stumble upon him...

Since this is proabably the only place in the world I can talk to people who know of him... tell me what you guys think of him and why you like his music.....


Dicuss Medtner
Fred Smalls

[Kassaa]

I love him too, my favorite is his first Piano Concerto.

[kreso]

I love him very much, especialy his Sonatas with Hamelin-first one is my favourite!
Well, you can listen his music every day and it's never boring. When you listen it, it sounds easy but when you try to play it, then you find out how complex it is-very rich sound, so many harmonies and great virtuosity. He sounds like Rachmaninov, but I would say that he is sometimes more racional then Rachmaninov.
I think he deserves better place in musical history..

[ahinton]

I love him very much, especialy his Sonatas with Hamelin-first one is my favourite!
Well, you can listen his music every day and it's never boring. When you listen it, it sounds easy but when you try to play it, then you find out how complex it is-very rich sound, so many harmonies and great virtuosity. He sounds like Rachmaninov, but I would say that he is sometimes more racional then Rachmaninov.
I think he deserves better place in musical history..

He already has a far better established place in musical history than was the case before his centenary, but it has undoubtedly been something of an uphill struggle to ensure his rightful place on the 20th century musical map. His is a world of exquisite refinement, intense disciplining of ideas and a wholly individual manner. The piano was for him almost as important as it was for Chopin and he is known to have found the orchestration of his three splendid concerti a tedious chore, but do also check out his three sonatas for violin and piano - all now recorded (I think) and well worth investigating - major contributions to the repertoire of that medium, without doubt (his brother was a violinist). Medtner was also one of the finest song composers ever to have come from Russia, in my humble opinion - and with Rakhmaninov and Tchaikovsky already accepted as being well to the fore among song composers, that is - I realise - a big statement.

Best,

Alistair