Nicolas Medtner plays Medtner
The Complete Solo Piano Recordings
with Violin Sonata No.1
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)
Appassionata Sonata
rec. 1930-47
APR 7315 [3 CDs: 214]

Quite how I missed these discs first time around I don’t know. I was aware of them I’m sure but evidently life had other plans so I am coming to them fresh courtesy of this wonderful set which brings together the three CDs that APR released between 1998 and 2004. A bonus with this reissue is Medtner’s recording of his Russian Round Dance in which he is partnered by his friend Benno Moiseiwitsch.

For many years I believed that Medtner’s playing was only captured thanks to the generosity of Medtner’s admirer, the Maharaja of Mysore, a mistaken impression I somehow arrived at when I first discovered Medtner through several BBC radio broadcasts. What a treat to have almost two discs of music recorded by Columbia and HMV from more than a decade before that welcome intervention. The first disc concentrates on the surviving sides from Medtner’s earliest sessions, recorded between March 1930 and February 1931. Medtner had made some test pressings in November 1928, the same year that he gave his first London recital alongside soprano Tatiana Makushina and he returned in 1930, recording three songs with Makushina and a decent amount of his shorter solo piano pieces. To Medtner’s great disappointment these were never released and it is only due to good fortune that the recordings here, taken from Medtner’s own copies, still survive; Marc-André Hamelin, a staunch champion of Medtner’s music owns these and provided fourteen of the sides here. A further disc, a third version op.51 no.3 was supplied by Yvonne Dinwiddy. The sound is not perfect but is quite sufficient to show what a master Medtner was. His training was initially under his mother and his uncle, Fyodor Goedicke, father of composer Alexander Goedicke;  he continued his training with Vasily Safonov, who also taught Josef and Rosina Lhévinne. It was Safonov who, when presenting Medtner with his gold medal, declared that by rights it should be a diamond medal and it is not difficult to hear why. From the opening notes of the first skazka, the March of the Paladin, Medtner’s utter command is evident; this work is as rhythmically complex as anything Medtner wrote but his playing is precise and fluent, with drive, momentum and, despite the fast tempo, a wonderful sense of space. This is just as clear in the second of the op.20 tales, the cataclysmic campanella; little bells it may be titled but this for me is one of the most evocative works for the piano of the twentieth century, a relentless tolling of bells that could signal the end of civilisations. Remorseless it may be but Medtner once again has a sure grip on the reins and brings out all its light and shade. There are three recordings of the third of the op.51 tales – a fourth can be heard on disc two – and a comparison reveals almost identical accounts; as the booklet points out Medtner remarked that there may be many different ways of playing a piece but always one way that is the best. I don’t need to describe the qualities of every side here; suffice it to say that these early recordings represent a masterclass in piano playing with fastidious attention to detail in the score while remaining spirited and relaxed, free to let the music and the narrative speak for itself.

It was not long into his pianistic career that he began to programme only his own music though his knowledge of piano repertoire was extensive. After his graduation he had played Anton Rubinstein’s Fifth piano concerto – Safonov’s choice, Medtner disliked the piece – and the thought of playing this followed by endless recitals with little change of repertoire bored him. One pianist described a performance of Liszt’s Feux Follets as the best I have heard though Medtner later confessed I did not wish but they did ask; he just wanted to compose and allow his music to be heard. He retained a love for Beethoven however and when HMV were ready to record him again it was to his beloved Beethoven he turned, making up for a missed opportunity to record two Beethoven sonatas a decade earlier. By 1946 he wasn’t in the best of health but one would not know it from this vibrant performance. There is the same rhythmic vitality heard in the earlier discs and in a nod to his romantic heritage some nice pedal effects in the first movement change to F major and some double octaves in the doom laden notes fortissimo a few bars earlier.

Disc two opens with the heartfelt Daphnis and Chloe, the first of the early novelles with its lovely opening melody and episodes of dizzyingly virtuosic fingerwork, both speaking more of the bucolic life than the hardships the pair had to endure on the path to true love. New to these sessions are two of the op.34 Skazki. No.2 has a swirling left hand accompanying another of Medtner’s gorgeous melodies; does the relentless stream of left hand notes suggest the fleeting uncertainty of Tyutchev’s lines that preface the score When we have called a thing ours, it departs from us forever? The third is the Wood gnome, and though he is a kindly, plaintive one as Medtner writes, his music is scampering and enigmatic. The third of the three Arabesques op.7 is another newcomer to Medtner’s discography and if the relentless torrent of left hand accompaniment looks somewhat like a Scriabin prélude or étude the sound is all Medtner. The qualities that we heard in his 1930/31 recordings are all present here in much better sound.

Benno Moiseiwitsch was, until 1937, the first and only pianist to record any Medtner besides the composer, recording the Skazka op.34 no.2 in 1928. After recording the G minor sonata he persuaded HMV to return Medtner to the recording studio; the Beethoven Sonata was the most substantial item though Moiseiwitsch joined Medtner in his Russian Round Dance for two pianos. It is a blazing performance where both performers sound like they’re enjoying every minute. Ill health may have dogged the composer but he sounds as virile as ever in an astonishing performance of the improvisation from his three pieces op.31; after the first page of music, played with a glorious rubato here, the writing demands a virtuoso of the highest order and Medtner shows that he can step beyond the technique to shape and colour this remarkable music. A very welcome return to the studio.

The final phase of his recording career began the following year. An ardent admirer, The Maharaja of Mysore, funded a series of recordings that were released under the auspices of a specially formed HMV Medtner Society. Thanks to these we have Medtner in a good deal more of his repertoire; his final work, the piano quintet was recorded with the Aeolian Quartet in 1949 as well as several vocal items. These are all available elsewhere as are the three piano concertos but the unpublished recording of the first violin sonata is included here. His partner is Cecilia Hansen, a pupil in St Petersburg of the great Leopold Auer. Her discography is slight, just a few 78s from the mid 1920s though she toured extensively. Having escaped the nazis with her second husband she lived in London between 1940 and 1950 and in April 1947 joined Medtner for this wonderfully vibrant performance of the B minor sonata. She matches Medtner’s rhythmic aplomb beautifully with fine tone and, in the second movement danza, an extended scherzo with a presto at its heart, both performers play with an infectious, youthful exuberance. The final movement is dithyramb, a hymn to the god Dionysus, a term he had used before for the three pieces op.10 and the Danza ditirambica, the final number of his op.40 Forgotten melodies. Poetic and narrative influences aside it contains wonderful evocations of bells and the duet between violin and piano on the final page is sublime.

Disc three completes his solo recording with several shorter works, four new to his discography and two complete sonatas. The canzona matinata that we heard on disc one is now in its proper context, preceding the epic Sonata tragica. I have a certain fondness for this recording as it was this that prompted me to end my final university recital with this sonata; a close friend of Edna Iles’, concert pianist, friend of Medtner, passionate advocate and dedicatee of the Russian Round Dance, gave me some helpful advice while I was working on it and was quite put out that I had neglected to also programme the Canzona matinata, adding that they really should be played together! The Sonata ballade has a narrative inspiration, a poem by Anatoly Fet about the temptation of Christ but one needn’t know that to marvel in this richly wrought piece, its pastorale opening transformed into refulgent exultation at the very end and the brief but dramatic funereal central movement, all threaded through with two main themes. More expansive and more complex than the Sonata tragica it is amazing that we have this thrilling performance. Added to these two large scale treasures are the complex dance of Ivan the fool’s tale, the scampering and enigmatic skazka op51 no.1, the deeply intense Arabesque op.7 No.2 and the skilfully painted portrait of spring primavera, unpublished but in marvellous sound thanks to Bryan Crimp’s work on the deteriorating copy, creating a complete picture of this magnificent artist.

Had these recording come about a little earlier or later Medtner’s fortunes as a composer might have risen sooner but they coincided with the demise of 78rpm recordings and either remained unpublished or disappeared from view relatively quickly. Medtner might have aided his cause, and possibly that of his own works, by recording other composer’s music but that sort of commercial recognition meant little to him and hopefully he was content that his music had devoted followers and that he was to able to record a goodly portion of his catalogue for future generations. With grateful thanks to APR we can now enjoy the genius of Medtner both as intriguing composer and masterful pianist.

Rob Challinor

Previous review: Jonathan Woolf (October 2025)

Contents

Volume 1
Märchen (Skazka/Fairy Tales): Op 14/2 (1905-07), Op 8/1 (1904-05), Op 20/2 (1909), Op 51/3 (1920-22), Op 51/5 (1920-22), Op 20/1 (1909), Op 26/3, Op 26/3 (1910-12), Op 26/2 (1910-12), Op 51/2 (1920-22)
Hymn in praise of toil Op 49 No.1 (1926-28)
Danza jubilosa Op 40 No.4 (1918-20)
Danza festiva Op 38 No.3 (pub 1922)
Canzona matinata Op 39 No.4 (1919-20)
Novelle Op 17/1 (1908)
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)
Sonata No 23 Op 57 Appassionata (1806)
rec. London 1930-31 (Medtner) and 1946 (Beethoven)

Volume 2
Novelle Op 17 No.1 (1908)
Märchen Opp 14 No. 2 (1905-07), Op.20 No.1 (1909), Op.20 No.2 (1909), Op.26 No.2 (1910-12), Op.26 No.3 (1910-12), Op.34 No.2 (1916), Op.51 No.2 (1920-22), Op.51 No.3 (1920-22)
Danza Festiva Op 38 No.3 (pub 1922)
Arabesque Op 7 No.3 (1901-04)
Improvisation Op 31 No.1 (1914)
Russian Round-Dance, Op.58 No.1 (1940)
Benno Moiseiwitsh (piano)
Violin Sonata No 1 Op 21 (1910)
Cecilia Hansen (violin)
rec. Abbey Road, London 1936-1947

Volume 3
Canzona matinata Op.39 No.4 (1919-20)
Sonata tragica in E Op.39 No.5 (c.1918-20) 
Arabesque in A Op.7 No.2 (1901-1904)
Sonata-Ballada in F sharp Op.27 (c.1912-14)
Hymn in Praise of Toil (Before Work) Op.49 No.1 (1926-28)
Novelle in C Op.17 No.2 (1908)
Märchen [Skazka] in D Op.51 No.1 (1920-22)
Märchen [Skazka] in F Op.26 No.3 (1910-1912)
Primavera Op.39 No.3 (1919-20)
rec. Studio 3 Abbey Road, London, 1947

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