Medtner's songs predominantly use a syllabic approach, setting each syllable to a single note, reserving melismas (multiple notes per syllable) for heightened expression.
Composer Biography
Nikolai Medtner, like his friend Sergei Rachmaninoff, experienced a privileged upbringing and later endured exile from Revolutionary Russia.
Composition History
Medtner's Violin Sonata No.3, 'Epica', became an act of remembrance for his brother Emil, who died in 1936, a year after Medtner began the work.
Compositional Technique
Medtner's music is characterized by a disparity between his personal, conservative harmonic language and his highly individual handling of rhythm, where bar lines are treated as visual punctuation.
Critical Reception
Despite being nicknamed 'The Russian Brahms', Medtner's music, with its restrained romanticism and cross-rhythms, is considered uniquely 'Medtner' and has been described as 'timeless'.
Composer Biography
Medtner's older brother, Emil, exerted a significant, almost Svengalian, influence on Nikolai's musical career and personal life until Emil's death in 1936.
Composer's Artistic Vision
Medtner's intricate music, unlike the 'big tune' opulence of Rachmaninoff, demands effort from listeners with its more oblique, exacting, and less immediately fulfilling discourse.
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