Medtner: Piano Concerto No. 1 & Piano Quintet (Hyperion Romantic Piano Concerto 8)

Featuring

Alexander Lazarev
Dmitri Alexeev
András Kiss
Ferenc Balogh
László Bársony
Károly Botvay

BBC Symphony Orchestra
New Budapest Quartet
Nikolai Medtner

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Composition History

Medtner's Piano Quintet in C major, Op. posth., was a lifelong project, with initial sketches from 1903/4 and its completion in 1949, just before his death.

Composer Biography

Medtner's origins combined German and Russian influences, with his ancestors likely leaving Germany in the eighteenth century and Medtner himself being born in Moscow.

Composer Biography

Nikolai Medtner, a Russian composer and pianist, was considered one of the most important composers in Russia at the beginning of the twentieth century, alongside Scriabin and Rachmaninov.

Composition History

Medtner's Piano Concerto No. 1, considered his most outstanding work, was begun in 1914 and premiered in Moscow on May 12, 1918, with the composer as soloist.

Composer's Artistic Vision

The Piano Quintet, Medtner's final major work, unites his deep seriousness in art and religion, with musical motifs inspired by Gospel passages and ancient Russian Orthodox Church music.

Recording & Production

This recording of Medtner's Piano Concerto No. 1 is based on the first edition of the score, which was published by the State publishing house in 1921.

Compositional Technique

The Piano Concerto No. 1 is a grandiose, one-movement work written in sonata form, but it also incorporates variation form, creating a unique and diverse structure.