Nikolay Medtner (1880-1951)
Complete Piano Sonatas Volume 3
Sonata-Ballade in F-sharp major, Op 27
Piano Sonata in A minor, Op 30
Piano Sonata in E minor, Op 25 No 2 ‘Night Wind’
Paul Stewart (piano)
rec. 1997/2021, Salle Raoul-Jobin, Palais Montcalm, Ville de Québec & Maison Medtner, Montréal, Canada
GRAND PIANO GP888 [77]
In the opening remarks in the booklet, Canadian pianist Paul Stewart writes: “The joy of Medtner is, in part, the joy of discovery: a wealth of little-known but magnificent music”, and notes that the 14 piano sonatas are, as far as he is concerned, “the most significant achievement in this genre by any major composer since Beethoven”. How odd: the Wikipedia entry for 20th century piano sonatas does not list Medtner … careful what you rely on for information. In any case, this review has benefitted very substantially from Paul Stewart’s comments.
No one after Beethoven and Schubert wrote more sonatas than Medtner, but one could be forgiven for feeling that it is a statement too far: what about Prokofiev and Scriabin, for example, who both have their champions? In the end, it comes down to personal choice. This should, however, prompt those who have read Stewart’s proclamation to listen again to the others and reassess. What is incontestable is that Medtner’s sonatas are mighty in concept and execution.
As it happens, Sonata-Ballade began life as a much shorter work. For some reason Medtner felt unhappy with it, and almost immediately set about adding an Introduction and a Finale, though he strangely placed them after the opening Allegretto. While no programme was declared, some of his students said that he was inspired by a poem by Afanasy Fet. The opening theme describes the joys of springtime. The second theme, far more disturbed and disturbing, evokes “a struggle between Light and Darkness, Faith and Doubt”; the poem was inspired by Satan’s temptation of Jesus in the wilderness. The Introduction grows out of the final notes of the final Coda, marked Allegro molto agitato. Its funereal opening is soon replaced by a theme that implies Christ’s rejection of Satan’s attempts to lead him away from his mission. It is characterised by “a motif that was to become an idée fixe for Medtner”. Later known as his “Muse theme”, it reappears in several more of his works, beginning with his song setting of Pushkin’s The Muse from 1913, the year this Sonata-Ballade first saw the light of day.
Paul Stewart points out “its important role in his Second Sonata for Violin and Piano and Piano Quintet”, among other works. The Finale segues straight from the end of the Introduction, and soon one hears a recapitulation of the work’s opening springlike theme, along with elements of the Muse theme depicted as a carillon of bells. Its message is the triumph of light over darkness. The Sonata closes with another “majestic proclamation from the Muse”, making for a triumphant conclusion to this mighty work. Apparently in one of his student’s scores Medtner had written these words from Fet’s poem: “Before the Lord alone one can kneel!”
As Paul Stewart writes, if the Sonata-Ballade “can be interpreted as a musical allegory – the triumph of Light over Darkness, Faith over Doubt – Sonata in A minor, Op 30 implies a more pessimistic worldview”. After Medtner’s death, someone added a subtitle “during the time of war 1914-1917”. No composer could resist the urge to reflect the despair and fear that war brings. We know how ferocious the First World War was. Medtner saw his country affected by a series of setbacks delivered by forces far superior to those of Russia. These feelings are accompanied by a far more overtly Russian feel to the music than hitherto. Paul Stewart points out that the sonata demonstrates Medtner’s unfailing ability to make every note count, wasting none the while. The Russianness of the music mirrors his feelings for his country at that tense time. There are echoes of his friend and champion Rachmaninov’s Second Piano Sonata in Medner’s opening. Listen out for the series of representations of “bells of jubilation that announce the sonata’s Recapitulation; bells of alarm; bells of hollow triumph on the final page. Indeed, the ultimate note of the work is the deepest, most sonorous bell the piano can produce – bottom A – tolling what might be a death knell […] for Russia?”
Medtner’s well documented 40-year friendship with Rachmaninov was cemented in Rachmaninov’s dedication of his Fourth Piano Concerto to Medtner. He reciprocated by dedicating to Rachmaninov his second piano concerto and his second piano sonata, known as Night Wind. This is a monumental achievement and an equally monumental work, a single movement that lasts a generous 33 minutes.It was inspired by Fyodor Tyutchev’s poem Day and Night, which Medtner had already set as a song along with Tyutchev’s other poems. He decided to pursue this theme in this sonata which takes the same poem as a starting point.
The sonata is in two sections, with an introduction that takes no less than 18 minutes. The overall concept is one of an appeal to the night wind to explain its fearsome howling, and an entreaty to it not to “awaken the sleeping tempests: Beneath them, Chaos stirs!...” Paul Stewart extols the sonata’s many virtues, including Medtner’s supreme ability for “motivic development”, explaining how “every conceivable possibility of fragmentation, diminution, augmentation and polyphonic combination is exhausted”. He concludes with a very well-expressed description of the closing notes, characterising them as “fragments of the sonata’s themes scatter like leaves blown into the night”.
Stewart ends his notes on this amazing work by quoting composer Kaikhosru Sorabji’s opinion 40 years after the sonata’s premiere that it was “the greatest piano sonata of modern times”. It had a profound effect upon Rachmaninov himself, who applauded its premiere “until the lights were extinguished”. Stewart adds Rachmaninov, the dedicatee, appears never to have performed it. That may have been because he may have felt “that its fearsome complexity and length would frighten off many audiences”. He did, however, make its companion piece in Medtner’s Op 25, the Sonata-Skazka, part of his repertoire.
To my knowledge, there are three recordings of Medtner’s complete piano sonatas: Marc-André Hamelin’s set on Hyperion (review), Geoffrey Tozer’s on Chandos (review) which I have, and a set on the Moscow State Conservatory label with various pianists. Paul Stewart is now up to volume 3, so he will soon have completed his survey of all 14. His clearly expressed admiration, even awe, at Medtner’s achievements, are underpinned by the superb interpretations of these amazing works. His reading of the Sonata in Op 25 No 2
‘Night Wind’ delivers a somewhat harsher treatment than Geoffrey Tozer who plays with a softer tone; some might prefer a harder edge to a sonata with several tempestuous moments, feeling that it is more what is required. Tozer’s playing of the Sonata-Ballade Op 27 is likewise softer than Paul Stewart’s, his lines more flowing, more romantic overall, which at times is certainly what one wants to hear. However, when Medtner delivers power blows, one needs to hear a certain degree of ferocity in the playing, and Paul Stewart is capable of that. These contrasts in interpretation are equally discernible in the Sonata Op 30. Tozer’s sweet tone is perfectly in keeping where called for, though this wartime sonata contains moments of anxiety and pure panic. The listener might feel that Tozer’s generally relaxed and laid-back delivery does not capture those elements as powerfully as the music demands. Paul Stewart, by contrast, sets a tone that presages the turbulence to come and, when those moments of high tension appear, rises to them perfectly.
When the playing or the recording is poor for whatever reason, it is easy to recommend against acquiring such discs. Otherwise, is there ever a definitive way music should be played? In the case of the Medtner cycles on Hyperion, Chandos and Grand Piano, such considerations do not figure. (I have not heard Hamelin’s version, but I have another of his Medtner discs and can vouch for his formidable playing.) Even if you had the Hamelin or Tozer set, you would still very much enjoy Stewart’s interpretations. Those unfamiliar with these sonatas would, I am sure, be very happy with any of the versions available. I have no idea about the Moscow State Conservatory recording with 16 different pianists but Russians are often very faithful interpreters of their country’s music, as my recording of some of Medtner’s works by conductor-composer Yevgeni Svetlanov (Russian Disc RD CD 10 045) proves.
For those who are new to Medtner, this disc may prove a more difficult way in than if they started their exploration with his shorter, more accessible works, like his utterly compelling Sonata Remininiscenza in A minor Op 38 No 1. Nonetheless, when listeners do hear the works on this disc, they may very well find common cause with Paul Stewart’s contention that Medtner’s sonatas are indeed the greatest contribution to the genre since Beethoven. It is highly likely that Rachmaninov would have concurred, and it is hard to advance any argument to dispute or refute it.
Steve Arloff
Published: October 26, 2022
