Wonderful playing. I never heard this piece before and seeing the comments below can see where Ravel his ideas from Medtner, especially at the beginning. 🙂🙂
Quite an exploit, an intense interpretation of a Difficult Noise! It's amazing to be at once very typical Medtner and yet with the elements of other influences of the time of his youth (whole-tone scales, abstract modernism...), almost a pity he didn't pursue this line a bit more. Very fine playing (a slight mix-up (nixe-up?) of fingers near the beginning...?). Strangely, i've possesed the score of all op2 for years (original reprint (Jurgenson..?)) and never had the courage to plonk thru! Brava, for the pianism, the passion and the courage to do it all visually!
Some of Medtner's early works are very harmonically adventurous, so "modern" that the Opus number could be reversed! The music were downloaded from I'm sleepy (imslp) and I compared Jurgenson and the one edited Goedike edition. There are some minor differences plus I put my personal dynamic changes. Hope he didn't mind ;)
Thanks! Your recording really brought out the dance-like character of this piece! I hadn't noticed before how incredibly waltzy this is (a bar of 6/8 feels like two fast waltz bars)--It's almost more waltzy than number 2. It reminds me of the Op. 39/1+2 pair--Flamm says those pieces could also be considered to be part of Medtner's Rusalka group, and now I see what he is talking about. If you take into account his songs, Medtner clearly associates the waltz with some kind of elegiac longing for a lost or unavailable love, like in the program for this piece.
@@itchy2345 While Medtner dated No. 1 "1896", that can only be the year he first wrote down some of the ideas. There is a "Nixe-lied" sketch for violin and piano from around that time as well. The piece seems like it was largely completed around 1900. Medtner probably kept making changes to it as well, since it wasn't published until 1904. Unfortunately Medtner really was not much of a precocious composer. 😢
@@paulprocopolis I changed to "Fantasy Improvisations" now. Although the title in the score "Fantastische Improvisationen" would be translated to english "fantastic", I think it's more suitable like Chopin's Fantasie-Impromptu. The early edition's title was "Improvisations" only.
Yay!...another Medtner, that makes my day! Love to hear your fresh interpretations. BTW I have finally started on another new Medtner piece myself. Had to go back 12 years to find your recording on your site! The Canzona serenata.
@@itchy2345 I see, yes, her performance is very good too, but I wouldn't say better, and of course she had the benefit of a 9-foot piano. When I get a chance to play one of those, I always feel like I can do stuff I could never do before.
Also, my new piano teacher sent me a link to a performance by Malofeev. Who I remembered from the Tchaikovsky competition several years ago, where he seemed to be trying to set some sort of speed record for some of the things he played. Which made his ultra-slow performance of the Canzona unexpected.
@@crystal130h Malofeev, I'd like to hear his solo live! I think he tries to play somehow differently each time and experimenting, which makes his playing so fresh.
Rusalka is similar to Ondine, for those unaware, though the Russian story (adapted into an apparently popular opera by Dvorak) has differences and is based on different source material. Actually, Ravel might have stolen from Medtner! Medtner Op. 2 was written between 1896 and 1900, Ravel's Gaspard de la Nuit in 1908. I wanted to write that you hear the inspiration from Ravel's Ondine, especially in the beginning, but it might have been the other way round!
Ondine is French version for water nimph, isn't it? The idea is that the beautiful water lady lures men into the water and drawn them. Hence unhappy ending.🧜♀
Reinecke's flute sonata based on this story is somewhat earlier and rather good (well, the first movement is). It takes Mendelssohn as a model: not Brahms, so you won't have an allergic reaction if you listen to it 😆
It's amazing how Medtner's style and unique harmonies are present from the very start of his composing career.
Already Canzona serenata! (1:33 - 1:36) 😄
@@itchy2345 It's a special composer who can insert a quote from his Op. 38 into his Op.2.
@@DavidMannMD 😆
Bravo ! A tour de force, especially playing such a long and complicated piece from memory. You must have a great memorization talent and/or technique.
Sadly I forget easily as well!
Wonderful playing. I never heard this piece before and seeing the comments below can see where Ravel his ideas from Medtner, especially at the beginning. 🙂🙂
Now I found several Ondine piano pieces in imslp. Not only Ravel or Debussy, Chaminade, Anton Rubinstein, J. Schulhoff and many more!
Very interesting piece, well played!
Thanks! They might be the beginning of Skazki idea.
Amazing! I am not familiar with the early Medtner but these harmonies sounds very spicy.
Hot!
Quite an exploit, an intense interpretation of a Difficult Noise! It's amazing to be at once very typical Medtner and yet with the elements of other influences of the time of his youth (whole-tone scales, abstract modernism...), almost a pity he didn't pursue this line a bit more. Very fine playing (a slight mix-up (nixe-up?) of fingers near the beginning...?). Strangely, i've possesed the score of all op2 for years (original reprint (Jurgenson..?)) and never had the courage to plonk thru! Brava, for the pianism, the passion and the courage to do it all visually!
Some of Medtner's early works are very harmonically adventurous, so "modern" that the Opus number could be reversed! The music were downloaded from I'm sleepy (imslp) and I compared Jurgenson and the one edited Goedike edition. There are some minor differences plus I put my personal dynamic changes. Hope he didn't mind ;)
Thanks! Your recording really brought out the dance-like character of this piece! I hadn't noticed before how incredibly waltzy this is (a bar of 6/8 feels like two fast waltz bars)--It's almost more waltzy than number 2. It reminds me of the Op. 39/1+2 pair--Flamm says those pieces could also be considered to be part of Medtner's Rusalka group, and now I see what he is talking about. If you take into account his songs, Medtner clearly associates the waltz with some kind of elegiac longing for a lost or unavailable love, like in the program for this piece.
The incredible fact also was that he was only 16!
@@itchy2345 While Medtner dated No. 1 "1896", that can only be the year he first wrote down some of the ideas. There is a "Nixe-lied" sketch for violin and piano from around that time as well. The piece seems like it was largely completed around 1900. Medtner probably kept making changes to it as well, since it wasn't published until 1904. Unfortunately Medtner really was not much of a precocious composer. 😢
@@NKMedtner Thanks for your input. Not bad as Schubert or Reger, who composed like a music treadmill and not bother to check afterwards!
A life-changing performance... Extraordinary!
It's not Medtner if he doesn't slap you with his motif every 10 seconds.
Young Kolya was full of imagination!
Maybe even more often... 10 seconds is a long time in music (like a week is a long time in politics)😉
Fantastic in all senses of the word!
Ambitious and adventurous!
@@itchy2345 Good qualities to have!
@@paulprocopolis I changed to "Fantasy Improvisations" now. Although the title in the score "Fantastische Improvisationen" would be translated to english "fantastic", I think it's more suitable like Chopin's Fantasie-Impromptu. The early edition's title was "Improvisations" only.
Yay!...another Medtner, that makes my day! Love to hear your fresh interpretations. BTW I have finally started on another new Medtner piece myself. Had to go back 12 years to find your recording on your site! The Canzona serenata.
There are much better ones meanwhile! Medtner is getting increasingly popular. My favourite one is Zlata Chochieva.
@@itchy2345 I see, yes, her performance is very good too, but I wouldn't say better, and of course she had the benefit of a 9-foot piano. When I get a chance to play one of those, I always feel like I can do stuff I could never do before.
Also, my new piano teacher sent me a link to a performance by Malofeev. Who I remembered from the Tchaikovsky competition several years ago, where he seemed to be trying to set some sort of speed record for some of the things he played. Which made his ultra-slow performance of the Canzona unexpected.
@@crystal130h Malofeev, I'd like to hear his solo live! I think he tries to play somehow differently each time and experimenting, which makes his playing so fresh.
Rusalka is similar to Ondine, for those unaware, though the Russian story (adapted into an apparently popular opera by Dvorak) has differences and is based on different source material.
Actually, Ravel might have stolen from Medtner! Medtner Op. 2 was written between 1896 and 1900, Ravel's Gaspard de la Nuit in 1908.
I wanted to write that you hear the inspiration from Ravel's Ondine, especially in the beginning, but it might have been the other way round!
Ondine is French version for water nimph, isn't it? The idea is that the beautiful water lady lures men into the water and drawn them. Hence unhappy ending.🧜♀
@@itchy2345 Yes, it's the name of the water spirit in the french version of the story (the novella Undine by Fouqué).
Yes, I see what you mean especially at the beginning.
Reinecke's flute sonata based on this story is somewhat earlier and rather good (well, the first movement is). It takes Mendelssohn as a model: not Brahms, so you won't have an allergic reaction if you listen to it 😆
@@itchy2learn Haha, thanks for the tip! Interesting. I don't want to imagine a Brahms version of Ondine :D "Ondine in der Blasmusikkapelle"