Rachmaninoff, Medtner & Tchaikovsky: Piano Works

Featuring

Nikolay Medvedev
Sergei Rachmaninoff
Nikolai Medtner
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

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Composer Biography

Nikolai Medtner, a close friend of Rachmaninoff, was forced to abandon his professorship at the Moscow Conservatoire and seek a new life abroad after the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917.

Composition History

Rachmaninoff's Six Moments Musicaux, Op.16, composed in 1896, was only his third work for solo piano, in contrast to other prominent composers of his time.

Composition History

Tchaikovsky's Grande Sonate in G Major, Op.37, written in 1878, is dedicated to Karl Klindworth, a German musical polymath who was a fine pianist, conductor, composer, and editor.

Composer's Artistic Vision

Rachmaninoff believed that the heart, aided by the head, was essential for composing great musical structures, stating that Russian music's greatness comes from speaking directly to the heart.

Compositional Technique

Medtner's Sonata in G minor, Opus 22, composed in 1910, is laid out in four distinct yet continuous sections, displaying a sense of unity throughout.

Composition History

Rachmaninoff began his Piano Trio (Trio élégiaque Opus 9) dedicated to Tchaikovsky's memory on the evening of Tchaikovsky's sudden death in November 1893.

Composer Biography

Tchaikovsky, despite his self-consciousness about public appearances, played the piano daily and conducted relatively regularly, including during his American tour in 1891.