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Alright! Support for the Op. 35's. I've heard some criticism from Alkan fans on the 35's, but I really like them as technical studies. The 1st movement of the Sonata would be good, but wouldn't the second be a little more substantial? Oh well, either would work fine. Personally, although I really like the Sonata, I have a hard time getting my head around it sometimes... It may be an Alkan masterpiece, but it's sort of out there for me.

So I've gone with Medtner... whom my piano teacher, I just found out, loves to death. After some thinking, we've narrowed it down to two pieces - (1) the second Dithyramb (Op. 10 No. 2) and (2) the Op. 20 Fairy Tales, performed as a set (both the B flat minor and B minor "Campanella"). What do you all think is the better option?


Here are the links by the way:

(1) Dithyramb, Op. 10 No. 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WjM5oNkUNms

(2) 2 Fairy Tales, Op. 20:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2Qez1WB4hQ (No. 1)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OTe39NC3ocQ (No. 2)

That Dithyramb is a heck of a piece, but it sounds a bit self-absorbed to my ears. I like the simplicity of the Fairy Tales.

edit - oops messed up the composers.

Medtner - how about the C minor concerto??

fantastic piece, ranks among the Rach.s, the cadenza in the 1st mov. is splendid, too few recordings, I have my fav.s, still alive, who is yours?

Shatskes/Svetlanov for me - it's coupled with Svetlanov's Sonata-Reminiscenza which is equally great. Melodiya import only, unfortunately, and an expensive one.

Yes, that is a great one.

www.medtner.org.uk has a free download of Medtner himself playing it, along with some other very interesting recordings.

I just found out at that same site that the complete sonatas are being recorded for Naxos by Paul Stewart. I never would have believed we would have so many Medtner recordings, had you told me several decades ago.

Also, I discovered this rarity on YouTube (actually, once anything is on YouTube, I guess it can't be called a rarity anymore) - a video of Richter playing the Sonata Reminiscenza (thanks, Truecrypt!). It's really a shame Richter didn't do more Medtner - I think this sonata is the only Medtner solo work he played.

Love the Medtner 1st I suppose, though with due respect, I don't feel that some of the more extravagant technical challenges are honestly justified by musical considerations. It sometimes appears that those technical hurdles are there for their own sake. (Particularly when heavy orchestration covers the piano anyway.)

Maybe I am missing something, but in Rachmaninov 2, I never get that sense. There is not a wasted note.

I have the Tozer recordings of the concertos and Hamelin in the sonatas. I've followed them all with score, no reason to believe that they aren't making a good case for this music.

And yet... and yet... whilst I'm constantly in awe of the sheer skill of Medtner's piano writing (and so much of it is embarrassingly difficult!), there's always that lingering suspicion that as a composer he didn't have that much to say. His lack of true inspiration hides behind the complexities.

this could develop into a new thread, but I think some of Medtner's works are amongst the finest 20th century pianopieces ever written. I would like to promote his sonata's op.11/3, op.22, op.25/2 and the Reminiscenza of course, some Skadzky, the 2nd improvisation and all the works called 'Forgotten Melodies', what a vision he had...

Good on you for that my mate. I have put my time in with Medtner, all the concertos, all the sonatas with score. I've tried and tried.

I never cease to be amazed at the technical complexities -Medtner's music is awesomely written!- but ultimately it's just that. Medtner lacks that creative 'spark' which makes Rachmaninov so dear to us.

Maybe one day I'll have it sorted out. But not now.

well, as long he won't be 'forgotten' like he named some of his pieces, it's good for me, I happen to like him, but only sometimes, and not all of his output...but he'll stay in my mount O. of good pianocomposers, I'll keep playing him and thus feeding him to the audience, and thus hoping to find fellow-admirers, it's just one of those little things that keep you going. Sorabji can't beat that one...

I've generally found more of interest in Sorabji, but then again I've never played Sorabji -or Medtner- so it's all basically about the concert pianists here who call the shots. (Supposedly their 'tastes' are more evolved?)

One could make a case for that -as a practicing church musician I have little patience with conservative Anglicans- so I am probably guilty as charged.

But ultimately Piano World is so much about who can impress with the most intellectual posts, as if a self-congratulatory mastery of the English language conveys an 'extra' understanding of music.

I like to think that Medtner combines lyricism with Bach's style of writing and contrapuntal workings, as well as a mastery of the sonata-allegro form. Though I do agree that his stuff rambles; Sviatoslav Richter, in his notebooks and conversations, says that "Medtner...an extremely fine composer [...] he could never bring himself to settle on one variant rather than all the others that were jostling for his attention, in which respect he was the very opposite of a composer like Schubert, for whom only one solution ever seemed possible."

the funny thing is that I, for me, am not at all English speaking, yes, we had our training in school, yes, it's the lingua franca of this particular planet, yes, every modern person is supposed to be able to use it in a rudimentary way, but this forum shouldn't at all be about that, I would never blame anyone for using wrong idiom/grammar/spelling, just liking Sorabji/Medtner or so would already endear me , BTW, Sorabji's 2nd Organ Symphony will take place soon here, in Amsterdam, takes only 9 hours I fear...

Wish I could be there. Kevin Bowyer playing? I know him, one of the most incredible people you could ever meet. Almost like Ian Tracey at Liverpool, Chr*st almighty, talk about the talent these blokes have!

I'm ready for my close-up, just put me away.

He is, read his interview in the paper, 2 pages, imagine! and hopefully there will be some people with the guts to sit down and listen..

OMG!! This is from somebody who snidely wrote "You were there?" when I formed a sentence poorly, which made it sound like I personally had heard something Chopin said.

And now has started a whole thread about using the wrong word for a piano composition.

It took me a while to 'get' Medtner, but I am glad I put the effort in now. Just don't ask me to verbalize why...