medtner and bortkiewicz.

[tanman]

bortkiewicz for me

[iumonito]

But I like Rachmaninoff and Scriabin better than either of them.

[arensky]

Medtner

[dnephi]

What does that even mean?  That's like comparing Brahms and Scriabin.

[communist]

Khachaturian  no really but Medtner

[rachfan]

For me, obviously, where I have been posting my Bortkiewicz survey and recording project here, I have a strong affinity to the composer's music.  This week I bought several Medtner CDs and am plowing through it, open mindedly, trying to find something in the solo repertoire that I love and inspires me to immediately learn and play it.  Haven't found it yet.  If I do, I'll be back to amend my comment here.  I can say though that I found his piece Campanella from Op. 20 to be like nothing I've ever heard before.  It's fascinating, compelling, and even a bit frightening, but I'm undecided as to whether I'd want to invest in it.

[quantum]

I think Medtner is a composer that grows on you.  His skill becomes more apparent as you learn to play his music.

[rachfan]

Hi quantum,

Yes, Medtner's music is definitely an acquired taste.  It's difficult to warm up to it immediately.  Today Earl Wild's CD arrived with the Second Improvisation, Op. 47 (I didn't find many of the titles to be particularly well correlated to the sound images), the Sonate-Idylle, Op. 56, a bit uninteresting, but I'll have to listen to it again, and also Op. 39 of the Forgotten Melodies--excellent pieces, but probably very difficult to play.  I often find Bachian contrapuntal threads running through his music as well as a strong Brahmsian influence at times.  I never much enjoyed playing Brahms (he often writes orchestrally causing his piano figuration to become quite awkward at times, as in the 3rd Rhapsody).  The other thing is that for a Late Romantic, too often Medtner's music seems more abstract than outwardly pleasuring the listeners' ears with the ravishing romantic surges of a Rachmaninoff or Scriabin.  Seemingly more German than Russian, his music strikes me as being a bit too objective and abstruse overall.  For my own taste, it pays too low a dividend in that sense to undertake it.  But yeah, I continue to listen to it to see if something will really grow on me.  Maybe the Meditation from the Forgotten Melodies.  As I mentioned earlier, his Campanella is one singularly unusual piece too.  But I still have many Bortkiewicz preludes to do yet with Bax, Ireland and Bridge waiting in queue too.  At least I'm never at a loss for repertoire to do!  It's just a matter of finding the time to do it.

[opus10no2]

Medtner at his most exciting -

and at his most beautifully lyrical -

Here's Bort at his most immediately appealing too -

[goldentone]

I like both, but I must give the nod here to Bortkiewicz.  Two very different composers, but Medtner differs when compared with anyone else for that matter.  Medtner's music is a different wine.

[rachfan]

Hi opus,

Thanks for posting the link to the Medtner Tale, Op. 26, No. 1 in particular.  Yes, it's quite lyrical indeed, and a wonderful piece.  The other two links are likewise excellent music representing the two composers well.

[opus10no2]

Welcome, the Bort 2nd concerto is well worth checking out too, the first movement is one of the most emotionally lush pieces I've heard.

[opus10no2]

https://www.sendspace.com/file/tjn1h6

[rachfan]

I listened to the three piano concertos three times or more and preferred Nos. 1 and 3 to the 2nd.

[marianne_n]

I like Medtner, because Rachmaninoff praised him, because his music resembles Rachmaninoff's