Marc-Andre Hamelin - Medtner: Complete Piano Sonatas, Forgotten Melodies / Hamelin

Nikolai Medtner's chums at the Moscow Conservatory included Scriabin and Rachmaninoff. Like them, he was a brilliant pianist. Also like them, he composed an extensive body of distinguished piano music, most of which is relatively unknown. Its style resembles that of Rachmaninoff (who greatly admired it), although it lacks the latter's memorable melodies. Technically, it is just as difficult, requiring not only great fluency and endurance but also a wide range of colors. Marc-André Hamelin's prodigious technique makes him an ideal interpreter of Medtner's strong, clearly chiseled structures. His ability to play even the most complex and difficult passages at an even pace helps delineate and clarify them. Excellent recorded sound. --Paul Turok Amazon.com

Medtner's Complete Piano Sonatas

Medtner is one of the greatest composers from the romantic style period. He was a fine pianist and recorded many of his own pieces although he did this in old age. The romantic spirit of exile we know from German lieder and Rachmaninov meet in Medtner's music. This music is sometimes projected as being only for the aesthete specialist or piano fanatic. One of my teachers seemed to suggest that the works could really only be fully appreciated with the score at hand. I feel this music is accessible and can be enjoyed by all music lovers. I love Medtner's music, the melodies can be whistled. The music is memorable and moving. Listen to the last movement of the Sonaten Triade Op. 11 if you doubt this. It has a stormily explosive power and atmosphere that is very compelling. I believe Marc Hamelin is the only person to record all of Medtner's sonatas. I strongly recommend for this Medtner cycle for all who appreciate romanticism in music.
August 28, 2007

Wow!

Excellent (if you like Medtner's music). the piano is clear and wonderful.

Martin July 14, 2007

Medtner's piano music is a strong, major addition to the piano standard repertoire, for both listener and performer. Beautiful.

When this 4CDs-album came out in 1998 I was one of the first in the states to purchase a copy, and even without knowing whether Medtner is my taste or not. I loved Hamelin's Scriabin-sonatas album so I didnt care about the high price of this Medtner-sonatas album. And I was right. With the first scanning of each disc I fell more and more in love with this gorgeous, rich, imaginative, romantic, melodic&rhythmic, intense, serious, profound, passionate...simply *beautiful* music. Medtner does not seem to strive for creating something extraordinary, innovative, modern, interesting per se but for pure musical intent. What you hear is pure (and absolute?) music by a genuine musician (Medtner) as natural and pianistic as one could imagine, with nothing else intended or presumed.
For comparative listeners, Geoffrey Tozer's boxed Medtner-sonatas set includes the complete Forgotten Melodies (I-III), not only I and II (Hamelin), but in the sonatas Hamelin plays with much more verve, drive, energy and speed. However, in the past years I tend to listen more of TozerPlayingMedtner...simply because he has been recording the complete Medtner solo music (prospected 9 volumes on Chandos) and I really enjoy the wealth of non-sonata music by Medtner which is less complex, of lighter content and much easier to understand. Many pianophiles whom I borrowed the Hamelin album thought that these sonatas were way too dense and heavy, yet in the end they fell in love with Medtner, too, when listening to his non-sonata pieces (Fairy Tales, etc.). They have become Medtner fans, yes!
As for my part, after having listened to Medtner sonatas for almost ten consecutive years, I somehow obtain the feeling that his other solo piano music is more enjoyable on a long-term basis. I cant listen to the sonatas nearly any more but I experience still lots of pleasure, fun and enjoyment listening to his other pieces. So thanks Hamelin for the convincing introduction to Medtner's world, and even more thanks to Tozer on Chandos (and Hamish Milne on CRD) for making this world my new home. May 2, 2007

but it IS unjust;

that such beautiful music should be ignored! i never understood why rachmaninoff enjoyed more popularity than his more ingenious colleague, scriabin. i similarly don't understand why rach is deemed greater than medtner. perhaps it was sergei's larger-than-life presence as a pianist and conductor? i deem rachmaninoff one of the greatest pianist-conductors in history, but as a composer he ranks below both scriabin and medtner.
listen to medtner's music and be blown away by the intricacy and intimacy of his music. the density, the poignant lyricism. counterpoint unfolds and reveals music that is ten times more dense than rachmaninoff's (possibly excluding rach's 2nd and 3rd piano concerto).
you hear explosive genius, innovations, and emotions. a different trajectory from scriabin's music - not apocalpytic, but more rustic. more pastoral and fairy-like, if not as charged with pathos.
if you are a fan of piano music, or just keyboard music as a whole, if you're looking for something sexy, medtner's sonatas are the answer.
and hamelin's playing, i presume, does not need my vouching. October 3, 2006

the war is Iraq is unjust

Medtner is a trult great composer and Hamelin is a truly great pianist, not just a technician. September 8, 2004

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