Medtner - Tale op.14 no.1 "Ophelia's Song"

[andhow04]

this is from a recital called amantes sunt amentes, which is latin for "lovers are lunatics." i think ophelia safely falls into that category.  regardless of her nonsense lyrics that she chants to gertrude, this piece is a perfectly realized four part chorale that also has some of medtner's most simple melodies (tho the part-writing is still rich and excellent!)

[rachfan]

Hi andhow,

I don't have this score, but in my opinion it sounds very, very well played.  Where the scheme is a four-part chorale, it makes the piece all about voices as emulated on the piano.  You clearly attend to voicing and voice leading to excellent effect as you play the musical lines.  

You've also illuminated a lesser-known work of Medtner here, so thank you for posting it for us!

[andhow04]

Hi andhow,

I don't have this score, but in my opinion it sounds very, very well played.  Where the scheme is a four-part chorale, it makes the piece all about voices as emulated on the piano.  You clearly attend to voicing and voice leading to excellent effect as you play the musical lines.  

You've also illuminated a lesser-known work of Medtner here, so thank you for posting it for us!

thanks for the nice words!  i originally encountered this piece when i set about learning op,14 no.2, "march of the paladin."  what attracted me to ophelia (and op.14 no.2) was that they were just a little bit on the more straightforward, simpler side of medtner's art.  i think medtner was a composer who found it impossible to just write a melody with accompaniment, and so in ophelia there is still a lot going on, but it is more centered around a beautiful melody nonetheless.
paladin of course is one of those miracle pieces where every note is equally important, and the ingenuity of the contrapuntal combinations never gets old.  i can't believe two pieces so different are together in one opus.  that's why i love medtner!

[scottmcc]

I have the score, and I intend to learn this at some point.  but right now my attention is turned to a different skazka, op 9 #2.  have you played it?  it's deceptively simple but the accompaniment gets a bit tricky swapping between the hands.

I agree with your assessment of medtner's need for a certain degree of complexity, and his gift for contrapunctal writing is simply amazing to me. 

back to this performance, where the focus should really be.  you've played it at a high standard, as you always do, and presented a very beautiful and forgotten gem that should be listened to by far more people than have done so already.  keep up the good work.

[andhow04]

I have the score, and I intend to learn this at some point.  but right now my attention is turned to a different skazka, op 9 #2.  have you played it?  it's deceptively simple but the accompaniment gets a bit tricky swapping between the hands.

I agree with your assessment of medtner's need for a certain degree of complexity, and his gift for contrapunctal writing is simply amazing to me. 

back to this performance, where the focus should really be.  you've played it at a high standard, as you always do, and presented a very beautiful and forgotten gem that should be listened to by far more people than have done so already.  keep up the good work.

do you know i wasn't too familiar with op.9, so i went back and looked at #2.  it's great!  it seems very unusual for medtner's style (in some ways).  even tho the rhythmic pattern is typical of him, it is still unusual for him to use a pattern for so long.  i see that it is a serenade.  it also looks a little simpler than most of his other pieces...