Medtner: Complete Piano Sonatas, Forgotten Melodies / Hamelin [Box set, Import]

Nikolai Medtner (Composer), Marc-André Hamelin (Performer), Marc-Andre Hamelin (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: Marc-André Hamelin
• Composer: Nikolai Medtner
• Audio CD (October 27, 1998)
• Number of Discs: 4
• Format: Box set, Import
• Note on Boxed Sets: During shipping, discs in boxed sets occasionally become dislodged without damage. Please examine and play these discs. If you are not completely satisfied, we'll refund or replace your purchase.
• Label: Hyperion UK
• ASIN: B00000DG21
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #23,704 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #16 in Music > Classical > Historical Periods > Modern, 20th, & 21st Century > Forms & Genres > Sonatas
  • #48 in Music > Classical > Forms & Genres > Sonatas > General
  • #53 in Music > Classical > Forms & Genres > Short Forms > Character Pieces

Track Listings

Disc: 1

1. Sonata In F Minor Op. 5: Allegro

2. Sonata In F Minor Op. 5: Intermezzo: Allegro

3. Sonata In F Minor Op. 5: Largo divoto

4. Sonata In F Minor Op. 5: Finale: Allegro risoluto

5. Zwei Marchen Op. 8: Andantino

See all 9 tracks on this disc

Disc: 2

1. Sonata In G Minor Op. 22: Tenebroso, sempre affrettando - Allegro assai - Interludium (Andante lugubre) - Allegro assai

2. Sonata-Skazka In C Minor Op. 25 No. 1: Allegro abbandonamente

3. Sonata-Skazka In C Minor Op. 25 No. 1: Andantino con moto

4. Sonata-Skazka In C Minor Op. 25 No. 1: Allegro con spirito

5. Sonata In E Minor 'Night Wind' Op. 25 No. 2: Introduzione: Andante - Allegro

See all 6 tracks on this disc

Disc: 3

1. Sonata-Ballada In F Sharp Major Op. 27: Allegretto

2. Sonata-Ballada In F Sharp Major Op. 27: Introduzione: Mesto

3. Sonata-Ballada In F Sharp Major Op. 27: Finale: Allegro

4. Sonata In A Minor Op. 30: Allegro risoluto - Allegro molto

5. Vergessene Weisen (Forgotten Melodies) Op. 38: No. 1 Sonata-Reminiscenza: Allegretto tranquillo

See all 12 tracks on this disc

Disc: 4

1. No. 1 Meditazione: Introduzione, quasi Cadenza - Meno mosso - Meditamente

2. No. 2 Romanza: Meditamente

3. No. 3 Primavera: Vivace

4. No. 4 Canzona matinata: Allegretto cantando, ma sempre con moto

5. No. 5 Sonata tragica: Allegro non troppo

See all 12 tracks on this disc

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

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

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the Real Treasures of the Recorded Catalogue, December 11, 2001

By 

John H. Pendley "retired teacher" (the beautiful mountains of north Georgia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Medtner: Complete Piano Sonatas, Forgotten Melodies / Hamelin (Audio CD)

This is not the easiest music to love. Its structure is difficult and extremely cyclic, its textures are often dense, and its technical demands are extreme. But something about it impressed me when I first heard these recordings, and my fascination with it has not let go for six months. I have come to believe that Medtner was as great a musician as many that we revere and infinitely superior to many who are more popular. Do not be misled by observations that his music is like Rachmaninoff's (it's more German than Russian) or that it is boring. His rigorous intellect and devotion to his music are obvious; listening to him is an intellectual challenge. Emotionally, his music is, at times, noble, whimsical, severe, hymn-like, tender, and dramatic. It is rhythmically invigorating and melodically gorgeous, even if it isn't easy to whistle along with his tunes. If all that sounds like a tall order for the listener, what about the poor pianist?

I've learned something about Marc-Andre Hamelin by listening to this set. I came to this music having pigeon-holed Hamelin as the most super-humanly gifted technical pianist I've heard in fifty years of loving classical piano music--and little else. I was right about his technique, but I could hardly have been more mistaken about his musicianship. I've come to love this music so much that I now have four complete sets of Medtner's Sonatas. Three of them only serve to illuminate Hamelin's mastery of enormous structural difficulties, his understated but compelling poetry, and his absolute dedication to music that demands no less. Yes, his technique is uncannily fleet-fingered, but just as impressive is his ability to unravel and bring absolute clarity to complex textures. He is one of our true masters of the piano, and this music is far, far too wonderful to be as little known as it is. If you love great piano music, and great piano playing, buy this set before it is no longer available: it is one of the real treasures of recorded piano music.

28 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars contra drollere, June 22, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Medtner: Complete Piano Sonatas, Forgotten Melodies / Hamelin (Audio CD)

Just a few words for those of you who are considering this set but have been given pause by the dissenting opinion in drollere's review, below.

I can understand that on first listen this music (like a great deal of classical music) may be difficult to parse -- to break into meaningful paragraphs and sentences, so to speak. And I know first-hand that when one can't yet hear the phrase structure in a piece of music, it tends to sounds like, yes, a long drum solo; it sounds like the music is attempting to express itself solely through superficial, local effects. drollere's review is actually a lovely, well-written description of the experience of listening to music without knowing how to parse it. One hears only "chords," "scales," "arpeggios," "melodies," and is aware that things seem to "change...every 20 seconds or so." In fact, listening to music this way - a bit like listening to the rise and fall of an actor's voice without being able to make out the words - often tends to give one an exaggerated impression of the surface effects, which I think must account for drollere's belief that this music is best characterized as "virtuosity for its own sake." Assessments like "the kinetic equivalent of serialism" and "a musical rubik's cube" really have nothing to do with Medtner - they just describe the general phenomenon of a piece of music being meaningless to a listener, in the truly musical sense of the word "meaning."

I was struck by these things, reading drollere's review, because they were so familiar to me: I am often frustrated by how long it takes me to come to terms with the form (and through it, substance) of a new musical work; sometimes it seems like I can listen to a piece 20 times and not yet know how to parse it. Frustrating indeed, because I, unlike drollere, know that at that point I'm still not qualified to form an opinion of the music. In a very real sense, I still haven't heard it. I might form an opinion about the fact that the music is still opaque to me (e.g. "I'm putting in an attentive, good faith effort to make sense of this music, so I declare that if I still don't know what's up after 20 listens, the composer isn't doing his/her job") but I'm simply not in a position to say anything about the composer's musical or aesthetic intentions or accomplishments. The composer didn't write the "drum solo" that I hear - it's just the raw data stream, not yet decoded by my brain, and as such isn't a work to be reviewed.

The irony of drollere's review is that the most outstanding aspect of this music, in exact opposition to what drollere says, is its "emotionally or imaginatively involving musical structure." Medtner's handling of sonata form is astounding - if you don't believe me or can't hear it, get a copy of the score and give yourself the assignment of breaking down the structure of one of the longer movements - the first piece I encountered was Op. 22, which is a good warm-up for the really sprawling ones, Op. 25/2 and Op. 53/2. I promise you that by the time you've gone through the purportedly tedious task of actually identifying the different themes and their recapitulations, noting thematic relationships, etc. etc., you'll realize how strong these pieces are, how exquisitely they fuse profound, heartfelt emotion with ingenious development - and then you'll be ready to listen again and hear it all. Or at least more of it. "What are the rewards of repeated listening?" indeed. Perhaps since July 28, 2003, drollere has found out the answer to that question, in which case I hope s/he will return and clean up around here. I just hate to think that anyone will be turned off to Medtner by a well-written but utterly rash review. Trust me: this is the real thing. The music is, if anything, better than the hype. Do not be dissuaded.

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Russian Alkan, May 9, 2002

By 

J. Deon (Nelson, BC Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Medtner: Complete Piano Sonatas, Forgotten Melodies / Hamelin (Audio CD)

These are astounding, exhilarating performances of a criminally neglected musician's masterworks. I believe I can honestly say that this four-disc set has brought me more enjoyment than any other album I've bought - in ANY genre. There's just so much good stuff on here, I don't know where to begin. Nearly every sonata is a masterpiece from opus 5 to opus 56. I compare Medtner to Alkan because of his originality, obscurity, and technical mastery (although extremely difficult, the writing is clearly very pianistic). Medtner's music has superficial similarities to Rachmaninov and Scriabin but is really a unique musical world with its own rules and form. It's music for people who love to get lost in counterpoint, don't mind some weird harmony and challenging rhythms, and it doesn't hurt to be a connoisseur of piano virtuosity either. It you love whirling cascades of notes shimmering up and down in both registers at once, you'll be in heaven.

Now to the performance: It's pretty much a given that I'm going to give a five star review to each new Hamelin CD that comes along (ranking this pianist's albums is like ranking Nolan Ryan's no-hit ballgames) but this set is amazing even for Hamelin. He is the perfect man to interpret this music. It takes a firm hand and keen intelligence to negotiate the intricate rhythms and communicate the musical ideas from the dense thicket of viny symphonic undergrowth. Hamelin succeeds where so many others would flounder.

Some people have said that Hamelin's performances are the reason to buy this set - that they elevate deservedly obscure music to a listenable level via sheer jaw-dropping virtuosity. I highly disagree - great as the playing is, I say that Medtner's music is the reason to get this.