Medtner: Sonata Triad, Op. 11

After graduating from the Moscow Conservatory it was obvious Nikolai Medtner was destined for a career as a concert pianist, but he also enjoyed a fruitful career as a composer. Rachmaninov described Medtner as ‘the greatest composer of our time’ and his penchant for the piano is reflected in his substantial number of compositions, all of which include the piano.

Medtner was born in Moscow but his ancestry was German. Stimmungsbilder Op.1 illustrates the wide spectrum of German-Russian romanticism. As a contrast, the more abstract and improvised Sonata Triad, Op. 11 features elements of extended etudes mixed with aria-like lyricism. His Forgotten Melodies were written as a balance to the agonies of the ongoing war and revolution.

Nikolai Medtner (1880-1951) was a close friend and contemporary of Rachmaninov. The two composers performed regularly together, and Rachmaninov considered Medtner to be a finer pianist than himself. His musical style, like his family background was more in the German style than his contemporaries at the Moscow Conservatory – with Brahms being a considerable influence. His three piano concertos are well worth getting to know, and display superb craftsmanship and a highly virtuosic technique. However, a problem that dogged Medtner was, that unlike his friend Rachmaninov, he never produced a work that had an instant appeal to the man in the street. Rachmaninov’s has all the sweep and passion one expects from a Russian concerto of the time, Medtner’s concerto is highly intellectual, has fewer moments of passionate music, and doesn’t give up its secrets easily.

His solo piano music is perhaps a good place to start discovering this enigmatic Russian master, and on these CDs are his 14 piano sonatas and his best known music, the wonderful ‘Fairy Tales’. Rachmaninov observed that all composers make mistakes when they are young, adding ‘only Medtner has, from the beginning, published works that it would be hard for him to better in later life. This set provides the opportunity to test this assertion as the sonatas span his early career to his old age.