I know this is an old comment, but I really love the "best and most unsettling" part

This is all a big stretch, I hope you’re aware

@@DynastieArtistique No, I'm not. Much of what I wrote 5 years ago is codswallop, but I think I broadly stand by this observation, despite the cloying, over-sentimental language.

He also said that Scriabin's 5th Sonata was one of the hardest pieces he played... Its intersting considering that he played far more difficult pieces (imo): Sorabji's 1st Sonata, Busoni's Concerto, Szymanowski 2nd Sonata, Feinberg 3rd Sonata, Roslavets Etudes, Godowsky's Passacaglia... its almost paradoxical that some (relatively speaking) "easier" pieces are considered to be so hard by one of the greatest pianists of our time.

@@scriabinismydog2439 scriabins 5th is on the lrsm repetore list with the 4th sonata, as opposed to the final exam, the FRSM. When compared with other pieces on the list it blows many of them out the water in terms of difficulty

@@meszian Crazy that anyone would put the Scriabin fourth and fifth sonatas on the same level. The fourth is extremely approachable; the fifth is nearly impossible.

@@DdavidoffC yeah, not sure about impossible, but its certainly the most difficult piece on the LRSM list, and it is far more challenging than many on the FRSM. I always wondered if it was included there simply because it is the last of his tonal sonatas, and potentially a little more manageable than his 7th or in particular 8th.

I'd agree with your assessment re Hamelin + Medtner. He's not the best interpreter (by some margin too, I'd venture to say), mostly because the counterpoint is not too clear and some of the most interesting harmonies get blurred when the tempi speed up. I've wanted to upload the Night Wind for some time, but to be honest I've not found any consistently great recording of it. This happens quite often -- I want to share some piece, but can't find the recording that I think will really sell it (or at least does it full justice).

@Brady Dill This, Ponochevny's live performance is the gold standard.

thanks for sharing!

​@@AshishXiangyiKumarSevarind Von Eckardstein for me

@@AshishXiangyiKumarSeverin von Eckardstein's account is brilliant

Years late reaction but yes, the romantica is one dragon of a piece, especially the Scherzo... Did you manage?

@@vaadwilsla858 And now another full year later, yes! Reasonably well, I believe. Always room for improvement. I performed it for the entire second half one of my undergraduate recitals and did it in its entirety a few other times and each time got a very good response. It's funny, for all of his supposed impenetrableness (is this a word?) I always have lots of success playing Medtner in front of audiences.

@@pinkzeppelintheater Oh wow! That's one heck of an awesome achievement, congrats! The minacciosa up next?

@@vaadwilsla858 Thanks! I've started it twice but yet to finish it, you're tempting me to go back and complete my unfinished business, that fugue still gives me nightmares (in the best way possible). It would be incredible to be able to do the entirety of Op. 53 in one go

Bach...not on that list? Or does Baroque just not suit you?

I'm just quoting the video description. I love bach and I do certainly consider him one of the very greatest composers, even though calling him a "piano composer" is probably inaccurate.

So you're just not gonna mention liszt, reger chopin, bach, beethoven ravel and debussey

@@p-y8210 the description refers to late romantics

On of the greatest *piano* composers *of his era* like seriously guys just read

My first Medtner's Sonate was Sonata-Idyll, not Reminiscenza, I still don't find anything interesting in Reminiscenza until now ... perhaps "canzona serenata" still better than this ...

@@vietanho1661 I was gonna tell you Sonata-Idyll is easier than the rest, but then I saw your comment that you have already done that XD Sonata tragica doesn't seem too hard either (and also very short)

listen to night wind a few times, and it will grow on you. war sonata shouldn't be too hard to interpret.... the climax is quite interesting and different from his "melodic/contrapuntal" style (but surprisingly Prokofiev used his theme in prok's 3rd war sonata mvt 3 - and idk for sure, but its quite clear to me that it is the case).

Try listening to Caspar Vos' live recording of Night Wind, everything is crystal clear there, voicings, counterpoint, form...

kzfaq.info/get/bejne/ac57h6qEt7bFfYk.html I didn't do an analysis but still, here is the score version of night wind sonata by tozer and also ponochevny, if it may help you

@@SeigneurReefShark it did thanks!!

just you imo

I am of the same opinion as the op

@@iliketurtles5180 what music do you listen to? for me, this is the hardest sonata to understand out of all 14... night wind literally sounds like an improv, which (to me, at least) makes it so much easier to listen to.......

@@ConcordMass I listen to a lot of Liszt and Scriabin - I feel like his later works helped preempt me for this sonata.

​@@ConcordMass I agree, took me way more listens to get this sonata. doesnt mean i didnt instantly love it tho, i always knew this sonata was special

maybe the fugato in liszt sonata? just a vague gues

If it's not what@@nandovancreijsuggested it might be the Fugue from Taneyev's Prelude and Fugue.

B

To let the themes unfold without rushing. The menacing aspect is only psychological and should not manifest aS physical violence.

From hard to easy (just IMO): op 25-2 night wind op 53-2 minacciosa op 5 op 53-1 romantica op 22 op 27 ballade op 30 op 39-5 tragica op 25-1 skazka op 56 idyll op 11-3 op 11-1 op 11-2 elegy op 38-1 reminiscenza

Menacing may be more accurate in English.

Steven Vesti Turnbull Thank you.

which word?

minacciosa

More late Beethoven & late Brahms than Rachmaninoff really

They were close friends and both were influenced by each other.

Yeah but Medtner is more dense texturally and contrapuntally and less lyrical melodies.

@@zanexiao4488nothing about Medtner reminds me of Brahms or Beethoven. Medtner is just Medtner, a unique voice!

It's funny that you should mention that, because around the six minute mark here there is a pretty short section reminiscent of a certain prelude I'm sure we all can remember. Need I even say which one?

Rhytmically, it is related to Op.22 No.5 of Rach, but not in its harmonic language. Also, as a Russian, it is common for Russian composers to use such rhythms. That statement is void, as I could have counted many Russians who he would have been 'quoting.'

@@lukecash3500 i just noticed, thx for pointing that out

Give it time. Medtner was never popular during his lifetime, even though Rachmaninoff thought him the greatest composer of his era: like Brahms he instinctively rejected anything superficial (even though he hated being called the Russian Brahms), and didn't flout contemporary trends as much as remain totally apart from them. Often appreciating Medtner really requires quite intimate familiarity with the work and, *most importantly*, a willingness to ditch any external reference-points we use more or less subconsciously to "get into" a work. I mean, look at Medtner's methods: scales in the LH all the time (thing of how rarely broken chords feature), scalar/sequential(!) melodies without clear arcs which refuse to be either tonal or modal, crazily inventive rhythms, harmonic progressions that circle back in on themselves -- all this stuff occurs in earlier music, of course, but Medtner built an entire style around it. It took me 2+ years to really like Medtner, and now he's definitely one of my favourites if I want to listen to something substantial. He's never quite easy listening, even in the Skazi or Vergessene Weisen, but Goddamn he's satisfying. You really get the whole deal: structural rock-solidity (he was born with Sonata Form, his contemporaries said), harmonic/rhythmic colour + inventiveness, and a panoply of sinuous, muscular melody.

That's the thing. I can analyze him, and acknowledge him as a "genius" (well, I picked up on some of the left-hand stuff you listed, but certainly not all of it), but even when I take all of that into account, it's still only something of the mind, nothing of the heart. Probably he still has to grow on me. I hope to get there eventually. :)

"even though he hated being called the Russian Brahms" Do you have a reference for that? I've wondered about Medtner's thoughts on Brahms for a while. I would've thought him to like Brahms' music a great deal. I was also wondering about the relationship between Medtner and Godowsky, since they both frequented Rachmaninoff's house, I assume they would've met and they too share some characteristics in their music, and they both composed almost exclusively for solo piano. I couldn't find much information about any of this though.

@@SpaghettiToaster yeah it's very hard to find any literature on Medtner's life and works, I don't know if it's really that scarce or just obscure and unpopular.

no

He is far more harmonically conservative than Scriabin...I don't really see any connection.

@@zanexiao4488 And yet I think he's a little less harmonically conservative than Rachmaninoff. In fact, quite a lot of his development sections approach atonality and often sound quite Scriabinistic.