Nikolaï Medtner : Les trois dernières sonates pour piano

Featuring

Benjamin Bertin
Nikolai Medtner

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Composer Biography

Medtner, despite his Germanic ancestry, was born in Moscow, leading some to consider him an ideal composer of the future, a 'Russian Wagner'.

Composer's Artistic Vision

Nikolai Medtner, like many Russian intellectuals of his time, was influenced by Nietzsche's concept of achieving balance by combining opposing forces in his music.

Composer Biography

Medtner considered his Sonata minacciosa, Op. 53, No. 2, to be 'the most contemporary of [his] works' and continued to prioritize it until his death, working on it in his final practice session.

Historical Context

The shattering realities of World War and the Russian Revolution led to Medtner's disillusionment and exile from Moscow, first to Berlin, then Paris, and finally London.

Composition History

Medtner dedicated his Sonata romantica, Op. 53, No. 1, to Scottish organist Archibald Henderson after premiering it in Glasgow in February 1931.

Composer's Artistic Vision

Medtner sought to unify the Apollonian aesthetic of order, which he associated with Germany, and the Dionysian aesthetic of ecstasy, which he attributed to Russia, in his compositions.

Composition History

Medtner's Op. 53 sonatas represent his final response in the genre to complex emotions of loss, grief, and yearning for a lost homeland, sparked by his 1927 concert tour to Russia.