Medtner - Tale op.35 no.4, Allegro appasionato e tempestoso

[andhow04]

***UPDATE - Live recording added
https://www.pianostreet.com/smf/index.php?topic=41190.msg464210#msg464210






here is another tale from medtner, this one from the op 35 set, where the tales are all pretty large pieces.  this is a very interesting sonata form based on a king lear monologue, "Blow, winds, and crack your cheeks!"  ( i copied and pasted the whole monologue at the end).

it's very difficult, and the piano writing is very similar to the sonata tragica op.39 which i played a few years ago, especially in the codas which have a lot of crazy cross rhythms in triplets; the techniques are the same.

the writing is typical of medtner, with the themes being treated in lots of ways, like augmentation, combined into one contrapuntal texture, sliced and diced, otherwise bastardized.


here is the king lear monologue:
"Blow, wind, and crack your cheeks! rage, blow!
You cataracts and hurricanoes, spout
Till you have drench'd our steeples, drown'd the cocks!
You sulph'rous and thought-executing fires,
Vaunt-couriers of oak-cleaving thunderbolts,
Singe my white head! And thou, all shaking thunder,
Strike flat the thick rotundity o' th' world!
Crack nature's moulds, all germains spill at once
That makes ingrateful man!...
Rumble thy bellyfull! Spit, fire! Spout, rain!
Nor rain, wind, thunder, fire are my daughters.
I tax you not, you elements, with unkindness;
I never gave you kingdom, call'd you children;
You owe me no subscription. Then let fall
Your horrible pleasure. Here I stand your slave,
A poor, inform, weak, and despis'd old man;
But yet I call you servile ministers,
That will with two pernicious daughters join
Your high-engender'd battles 'gainst a head
So old and white as this. O, ho! 'tis foul."

[scottmcc]

wow!  now that's some thunder!  I've always liked that speech from King Lear, and I'm unsurprised that Medtner would have such a virtuoustic treatment of it.  bravo!

[zeusje]

I hear a rachmaninov etude in it, and a some phrases of chopin. Never heard a lot of Medtner, thx for uploading.

[andhow04]

glad you liked it, there are def. echoes of rachmaninoff though the medtner are less flashy (i shouldn't be saying that after uploading this particular tale, but oh well!)

[furtwaengler]

Excellent job on this! I love that you play so much Medtner, and with such drama - expansive and dramatic. This one I have also played, and really need to return to (especially now that I have a Zoom H2). My recording is right here: https://www.pianostreet.com/smf/index.php?topic=35507.0

(This took some finding, for I could not see it listed in the archive.)

We should get Quantum and any other of the the forum Medtner heads together and put on a festival!

[andhow04]

medtner festival is a good idea... flood the audition room with the stuff perhaps?  i play several others that i haven't yet recorded

[andhow04]

here's the performance from the concert; this followed medtner's op.14 no.1 in a concert loosely themed around lovers going mad and dying in some way, either suicide or otherwise.  being a live performance it is a bit sloppy around the edges, but i think the feeling is correct...

[scottmcc]

that's an impressive live performance andhow!  I think you're right, the desired feeling was definitely captured.  I'd love to hear the rest of this concert, the parts you've submitted already are delightful.

[mnmleung]

I enjoyed the first audio clip, but the live recording was even more exciting. Thanks !

[andhow04]

I enjoyed the first audio clip, but the live recording was even more exciting. Thanks !

glad you thought so! i agree, and was inspired by furtwaenglers recoridng on this site, which i thought was more risk taking than mine.  the live performance wasn't note perfect but oh well! it got the point across.

[rachfan]

Hi andhow,

Bravo!

I listened to both recordings and definitely preferred the recital version, as I believe you were more inspired by having the audience there.  Also the recording setup was superior, providing better clarity and sense of presence in the sound.  It's a marvelous performance overall.  Great work!   

[andhow04]

Hi andhow,

Bravo!

I listened to both recordings and definitely preferred the recital version, as I believe you were more inspired by having the audience there.  Also the recording setup was superior, providing better clarity and sense of presence in the sound.  It's a marvelous performance overall.  Great work!   

thanks for the nice words!  yes this was recorded by the concert hall live, so it is much better than my junky tune talk microphone.  someday i will invest in real equipment.
this is one of medtners more monumental tales, though it is in pretty strict sonata form with medtner's peculiar and very skillful additions (combining the transition and second themes in the recapitulation, whereas a composer might just skip the transition theme...)

what i find interesting about this piece too is the way he took king lear's impassioned, basically mad rant against the weather (as a metaphor for lear's daughters and his lack of control i suppose) and imagined it in such a formal procedure.  successfully of course.  i found that interesting about op.14 no.1 as well, the ophelia piece, which is not a strict form per se, but so exquisite in its part-writing.  even though ophelia was not of sound mind.

just an itneresting footnote on these wonderful pieces!