#Nikolai Medtner

[cactustaffy]

Twitter requests&doodles

[lesser-known-composers]

Nikolai Medtner (1880-1951) - Violin Sonata No. 1 in B Minor, Op. 21: I. Canzona ·

Lydia Mordkovitch, violin · Geoffrey Tozer, piano ·

[opera-ghosts]

OTD in Music History: Russian virtuoso pianist and composer Nikolai Medtner (1879 - 1951) is born in Moscow. A slightly younger contemporary of Alexander Scriabin (1871 - 1915) and Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873 - 1943), like his more famous colleagues Medtner left behind a substantial body of original work – almost all of which is similarly focused on the piano. His output includes 14 piano sonatas, three violin sonatas, three piano concerti, two works for duo pianos, a piano quintet, many shorter piano pieces, and over 100 songs. He is perhaps best known today for his "Skazki" ("Fairy Tales") for piano solo, which is a set of 38 often-virtuosic character pieces. Unlike his friend Rachmaninoff, however, Medtner did not leave Russia until after the 1917 Russian Revolution. (Scriabin had died in 1915.) When Medtner finally made the move, Rachmaninoff secured for him a concert tour of the United States and Canada in 1924; these recitals were all-Medtner evenings consisting of sonatas interspersed with songs and shorter pieces. Despite the critical and commercial success of that tour, however, Medtner disliked concertizing. Highly esteemed in England, he instead settled in London in 1936, started going by "Nicolas," and spent the rest of his life quietly teaching, practicing the piano, and composing. PICTURED: A photo showing the elderly Medtner staring rather proudly into the camera, which he signed and dated in January 1940.

[sunset-supergirl]

Happy birthday Nikolai Medtner

[sheetmusiclibrarypdf]

Rachmaninow D minor Sonata Op 28 II Lento Zoltán Kocsis (Noten)

Rachmaninow D minor Sonata Op 28 II Lento Zoltán Kocsis, Noten, with sheet music Bester Notendownload aus unserer Bibliothek. Please, subscribe to our Library. Thank you!Background Composition Reception Best Sheet Music download from our Library.

Rachmaninow D minor Sonata Op 28 II Lento Zoltán Kocsis, Noten, with sheet music

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4YtSGrxwrM

Piano Sonata No. 1 in D minor, Op. 28, is a piano sonata by Sergei Rachmaninow, completed in 1908. It is the first of three "Dresden pieces", along with Symphony No. 2 and part of an opera, which were composed in the quiet city of Dresden, Germany. It was originally inspired by Goethe's tragic play Faust; although Rachmaninow abandoned the idea soon after beginning composition, traces of this influence can still be found. After numerous revisions and substantial cuts made at the advice of his colleagues, he completed it on April 11, 1908. Konstantin Igumnov gave the premiere in Moscow on October 17, 1908. It received a lukewarm response there, and remains one of the least performed of Rachmaninow's works. It has three movements, and takes about 35 minutes to perform. The sonata is structured like a typical Classical sonata, with fast movements surrounding a slower, more tender second movement. The movements feature sprawling themes and ambitious climaxes within their own structure, all the while building towards a prodigious culmination. Although this first sonata is a substantial and comprehensive work, its successor, Piano Sonata No. 2 (Op. 36), written five years later, became the better regarded of the two. Nonetheless, it, too, was given serious cuts and opinions are mixed about those. Background In November 1906, Rachmaninow, with his wife and daughter, moved to Dresden primarily to compose a second symphony to diffuse the critical failure of his first symphony, but also to escape the distractions of Moscow. There they lived a quiet life, as he wrote in a letter, "We live here like hermits: we see nobody, we know nobody, and we go nowhere. I work a great deal," but even without distraction he had considerable difficulty in composing his first piano sonata, especially concerning its form. The original idea for it was to be a program sonata based on the main characters of the tragic play Faust by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe: Faust, Gretchen, and Mephistopheles, and indeed it nearly parallels Franz Liszt's own Faust Symphony which is made of three movements which reflect those characters. However, the idea was abandoned shortly after composition began, although the theme is still clear in the final version. Rachmaninow enlisted the help of Nikita Morozov, one of his classmates from Anton Arensky's class back in the Moscow Conservatory, to discuss how the sonata rondo form applied to his sprawling work. At this time he was invited, along with Alexander Glazunov, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Alexander Scriabin, and Feodor Chaliapin, to a concert in Paris the following spring held by Sergei Diaghilev to soothe France–Russia relations, although Diaghilev hated his music. Begrudgingly, Rachmaninow decided to attend only for the money, since he would have preferred to spend time on this and his Symphony No. 2 (his opera project, Monna Vanna, had been dropped). Writing to Morozov before he left in May 1907, he expressed his doubt in the musicality of the sonata and deprecated its length, even though at this time he had completed only the second movement. On returning to his Ivanovka estate from the Paris concert, he stopped in Moscow to perform an early version of the sonata to contemporaries Nikolai Medtner, Georgy Catoire, Konstantin Igumnov, and Lev Conus. With their input, he shortened the original 45-minute-long piece to around 35 minutes. He completed the work on April 11, 1908. Igumnov gave the premiere of the sonata on October 17, 1908, in Moscow, and he gave the first performance of the work in Berlin and Leipzig as well, although Rachmaninow missed all three of these performances. Composition Movement 1. The piece is structured as a typical sonata in the Classical period: the first movement is a long Allegro moderato (moderately quick), the second a Lento (very slow), and the third an Allegro molto (very fast). - Allegro moderato (in D minor, ends in D major) The substantial first movement Allegro moderato presents most of the thematic material and motifs revisited in the later movements. Juxtaposed in the intro is a motif revisited throughout the movement: a quiet, questioning fifth answered by a defiant authentic cadence, followed by a solemn chord progression. This densely thematic expression is taken to represent the turmoil of Faust's mind. The movement closes quietly in D major. - Lento (in F major) In key, the movement pretends to start in D major before settling in the home key of F major. Although the shortest in length and performance time, the second movement Lento provides technical difficulty in following long melodic lines, navigating multiple overlapping voices, and coherently performing the detailed climax, which includes a small cadenza. - Allegro molto (in D minor) Ending the sonata is the furious third movement Allegro molto. Lacking significant thematic content, the movement serves rather to exploit the piano's character, not without expense of sonority. The very first measures of the first movement are revisited, and then dissolves into the enormous climax, a tour de force replete with full-bodied chords typical of Rachmaninow, which decisively ends the piece in D minor. Reception Rachmaninow played early versions of the piece to Oskar von Riesemann (who later became his biographer), who did not like it. Konstantin Igumnov expressed interest upon first hearing it in Moscow, and following his suggestion Rachmaninow cut about 110 bars. The sonata had a mediocre evaluation after Igumnov's premiere in Moscow. Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov had died several months previously, and the burden of heading Russian classical music had fallen on this all-Rachmaninow programme of October 17, 1908. Although the concert, which also included Rachmaninow's Variations on a Theme of Chopin (Op. 22, 1903), was "filled to overflowing", one critic called the sonata dry and repetitive, however redeeming the interesting details and innovative structures were. Lee-Ann Nelson, via her 2006 dissertation, noted that Rachmaninow's revisions are always cuts, with the material simply excised and discarded. The hypothesis is that the frequency of negative responses to many of his pieces, not just the response to the first symphony, led to a deep insecurity, particularly with regard to length. The musicologists Efstratiou and Martyn argued against, for instance, the cuts made to the second sonata on a formal basis. Unlike other pieces, such as the second piano sonata and the fourth piano concerto, no uncut version of this piece is currently known to be extant. Today, the sonata remains less well-known than Rachmaninow's second sonata, and is not as frequently performed or recorded. Champions of the work tend to be pianists renowned for their large repertoire. It has been recorded by Eteri Andjaparidze, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Boris Berezovsky, Idil Biret, Sergio Fiorentino, Leslie Howard, Ruth Laredo, Valentina Lisitsa, Nikolai Lugansky, Olli Mustonen, John Ogdon, Michael Ponti, Santiago Rodriguez, Alexander Romanovsky, Howard Shelley, Daniil Trifonov, Xiayin Wang, and Alexis Weissenberg. Lugansky performs the piece regularly. Read the full article

[avayarising]

Thanks for tagging me @edmundpevensiesqueen 💖

1. I’ve just got in from an orchestra rehearsal where we were practicing Beethoven’s 6th symphony (Pastorale) and his Egmont Overture, and the Egmont is still very much running around in my head.

2. I’m currently learning Insomnia (Бессонница) by Nikolai Medtner, which is a beautiful song. It’s hard going though as I know no Russian.

3. There are so many songs I could pick here. I’m going to go with an old favourite: Coisich, A Rùin by Capercaillie.

Tagging @lynzine @keetajet @jasontoddiefor and anyone else who wants to join.

MUSIC LOVERS ASSEMBLE!!

i feel like starting a tag chain so i hope this works out :)

reblog this with 3 songs:

the song your listening to right now (or last one you listened to)

your current favourite song

a song of your choice

______________________________________________________________

mine:

its now or never - elvis presley/love in the dark - adele

trastevere - måneskin

nevermore - queen

______________________________________________________________

tagggzzzz: (np ofc) @heartstopper-lover123 @s0lit4ir3 @ali-da-demon @vicwritesfic @skeelly @charliethinks @tori-my-love @chronic-skeptic @toulouseradiosilence @stewpid-soup @nine-frogs-in-a-trenchcoat @pessimistic-gh0st @theshyqueergirl @crowleybrekkers @a-bowl-of-soop @frogfairy444 @robinheaney12 @fairyghostgirlgaming @thatsawesomedontyouthink @venusplanetoflove2 @thelovelyvie @abookishshade @spir4nts-lun4r @i-have-no-idea-111 @kit-the-queer @a-wondering-thought @scatteredraysofhope @coco6420 @softlyunbreakable @givennnnnn @far-beyond-saving @darling-im-wonderstruck @heartstoppernerdsstuff @nonbinary-idiot-obviously @rebelrobinrules1984 @daydream-of-a-wallflower @leonine-elizer @angel-devil-star and anyone else who wants to join!!

[prestisssimo-tempestuoso]

russian composers of the 20th century, reblog if you agree

[mikrokosmos]

Medtner – Sonata-Ballade (1914)

In his eight piano sonata, after the epic proportions of his “night wind”, Medtner dials back a bit to something more lyrical. Here, the “ballade” portion makes one immediately think “Chopin”, though here the intensity is more subdued. The opening movement comes out as one continuous flow, each section melting into the next, which helps distract the listener from the sense of ‘sonata form’ structure. The opening melody is like an idyll, a peaceful depiction of a beautiful nature scene, or trying to create this sense of calm and peace. The second melody has a mix of repeated notes and a bit of a jagged rhythm, but it is woven in with a flowing accompaniment. When the ‘idyll’ melody returns, it is always paired with a new accompaniment, glittering that makes me think of stars. Near the climax, we get a buildup of chords that makes me think of the ecstatic outburst at the end of Chopin’s barcarolle. The coda flurries with notes, and we’re thrown into a crazy storm, slamming us into the minor key. This seems bizarre, compared to the more pastoral opening, but it helps transition into the second movement, without pause, a quiet and solemn march in the lower registers of the keyboard. It grows into a fantasia, the right hand rushing up and down over a left hand melody. The movement feels like an intermezzo, the march repeats with thicker and louder chords. After that, the melody is played in unison octaves, a darker echo, and we bleed right into the last movement with a brighter figuration. The mood is uplifted, though it comes off as bittersweet and uncertain. A long melody plays in the left hand with a very “Russian romantic” flavor. The opening melody is then interlaid with the darker march in the bass, and after a few repeats, that bass line melody is given a fugato, the counterpoint here gets a bit dizzy with unexpected harmonic changes, and a few chordal breaks now and then reminding us that this isn’t a strict fugue. We then find out that this fugato part is an introduction to a louder, larger scale fugal passage. Despite the ‘structure’ expected of fugue writing, we have a lot of wild passages like a lion trying to break out of its cage. And then, we fall into silence, the bass line acting like bells, to bring us into a repeat of the happy introduction. Then the ‘Russian’ melody comes singing through under the right hand, and more so than before it feels like another buildup. After a few passionate chords, trills, and large spanning octaves, we fly into a powerful coda, where the right hand plays a rapid pattern, over the left hand playing expansive chords introducing the idyll moment again, bringing us full circle. It makes me think of Van Gogh’s Starry Night. And satisfied at this reintroduction, we soar with grand chords, a stately close. In retrospect, while I had called this sonata more “subdued” than the “Night Wind”, it still retains a sense of epic grandeur. No pauses between movements, using a handful of melodies echoing through them, the work does live up to its name, “Sonata-ballade”, a mix of formal sonata, and more free-form poetry.

Movements:

1. Allegretto

2. Introduzione: Mesto

3. Finale: Allegro

Pianist: Geoffrey Tozer

[claennis]

There are some real gems in this list. Here are my favourites for my reading playlist also known as the ones that get you right in the feels.

Ravel: Piano Concerto in G Major, M.83:2. Adagio assai

Beethoven: Piano Concerto No.3 in C minor, Op.37:2. Largo

Shostakovich: Piano Concerto No.2 Op.102 in F Major: II. Andante ♡

Chopin: Piano Concerto No.2 in F Minor, Op.21: 2. Larghetto

Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto No.2 in C Minor, Op.18: 2. Adagio sostenuto

Saint-Saëns: Piano Concerto No.1 in D Major, Op.17 R.185: II. Andante sostenuto, quasi adagio

Dvořák: Piano Concerto in G Minor, Op.33: 2. Andante sostenuto

Poulenc: Concerto for 2 Pianos in D Minor, FP 61: II. Larghetto ♡

Medtner: Piano Concerto No.2 in C Minor, Op.50: II. Romanza: Andante con moto

Grieg: Piano Concerto in A Minor, Op.16: II. Adagio

Khachaturian: Piano Concerto in D-Flat Major, Op.38: II. Andante con anima

Barber: Piano Concerto, Op.38: II. Canzone: Moderato ♡

Rubinstein: Piano Concerto No.4 in D Minor, Op.70: II. Andante

Pelēcis: Concertino bianco: 2. Con venerazione  ♡

Scriabin: Piano Concerto in F Sharp Minor, Op.20: 2. Andante

♡ = so in love no words can describe how much (literally listens on repeat)

[lesser-known-composers]

Nikolai Medtner (1880-1951) - Piano Sonata in F minor, Op. 5

00:00 - I. Allegro 11:22 - II. Intermezzo: Allegro 14:47 - III. Largo divoto 22:15 - IV. Finale: Allegro risoluto

Sandro Russo - piano

[opera-ghosts]

OTD in Music History: Russian virtuoso pianist and composer Nikolai Medtner (1879 - 1951) dies, in relative obscurity, in England.

A slightly younger contemporary of Alexander Scriabin (1871 - 1915) and Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873 - 1943), Medtner left behind a substantial body of original work -- all of which includes the piano. His output include 14 piano sonatas, three violin sonatas, three piano concerti, two works for two pianos, a piano quintet, many shorter piano pieces, and over 100 songs. He is perhaps best known today for his "Skazki" ("Fairy Tales") for piano solo, a set of 38 character pieces.

Unlike his friend Rachmaninoff, Medtner did not leave Russia until well after the 1917 Russian Revolution. After he finally made the move, Rachmaninoff secured for Medtner a tour of the United States and Canada in 1924; these recitals were often all-Medtner evenings consisting of sonatas interspersed with songs and shorter pieces. Despite the success of that tour, however, Medtner never adapted himself to the commercial aspects of touring and his concertizing thereafter became infrequent. Esteemed in England, he settled in London in 1936, where he spent the rest of his life teaching, practicing piano, and composing.

PICTURED: An early edition of the sheet music to the first piece from Medtner's "Drei Arabesken" ("Three Arabesques," 1905), "Idyll." The "Three Arabesques" are an early set of character pieces written while Medtner was still living in Russia. Medtner has signed this copy on the cover, and the former (presumably first) owner has added the following interesting indication of history and provenance next to his signature: "[Medtner signed this copy h]ere [on] Jan. 30 / 42 B[irming]ham, [England,] when Muriel sang a group of his songs, Edna Iles, piano." It is also stamped "H.H. Lumby, Violinist, Pianist."

[sunset-supergirl]

Happy birthday Nikolai Medtner

[classical-nerd]

A look at Rachmaninoff’s favorite composer.

Classical Nerd is a weekly video series covering music history, theoretical concepts, and techniques, hosted by composer, pianist, and music history aficionado Thomas Little.

[his-dark-materials-trilogy]

Questions for Philip Pullman

How much credence do you give to the suggestion that somewhere, there might be other planets and worlds much like our own? Melvyn Bragg, writer and broadcaster David Eagleman, an American scientist, once said if you look at the night sky and hold up your thumb and look at your thumbnail, it is covering something like 10,000 galaxies. The amount of stuff up there, and the number of planets is infinite. It is not conceivable to me that there isn’t life somewhere.

You have said that every child needs to encounter music as early as possible – “I mean make, with voice, with clapping hands, with stamping feet, with instruments of every kind”. What’s your own best music, whether listening or playing? Fiona Maddocks, Observer music critic I love all types of music – jazz, great pop music, world music and folk music – but the music I listen to most is piano music from the 18th, 19th and 20th century. Russian music in particular. One of my favourite composers is Nikolai Medtner. He was a contemporary and great friend of Rachmaninov, although not as well known. More and more pianists are playing him now, though. The only instrument I play myself is the ukulele. I like to just sit here and plonk.

I wonder if you can tell us something about tractors and trees? Mark Haddon, novelist Aha! Mark is a neighbour of mine and I know just what he is getting at. About five years ago my wife and I bought about seven acres of land behind the house. It was rough grassland and hadn’t been touched or grazed for decades, so we bought a tractor and a mower so we could mow the grass down and have a look at what was there. Having reduced the grass to a manageable level so that we could walk on it instead of fighting our way through thistles and brambles and giant hogweed, we thought it would be nice to plant some trees. So we planted about 700 trees and dug a pond, which was a complete failure because all the water leaks out as soon as it fills up but we’re going to sort that out. So you could say Jude and I are happily engaged in agriculture or arboriculture, or something like that. It’s lovely to drive about on the tractor – great fun.