Medtner: Selected Skazki [Tales] (Bekhterev, Arimori)
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 8 มิ.ย. 2024
- Medtner’s Skazki are some of his most gorgeous and alluring pieces; they’re an excellent way to start getting into Medtner, which as most people discover unfortunately can be rather difficult. They feature almost all the trademarks of Medtner’s style: textural inventiveness, harmonic depth, a constant sense of the enigmatic, and, even if they’re not quite as rhythmically tricky as Medtner’s other works, a lot of rhythmic variation nonetheless. (If you listen carefully you might also recognise some ideas also used in his other works, including one of the main themes from the 2nd Piano Concerto.)
Bekhterev plays with an absolutely beautiful tone, and has an uncanny knack for expressing both the incredibly concentrated fantasy and the sense of spaciousness of the skazki [check out the Op.20 No.2, where the slow tempo chosen allows Medtner’s eerie counterpoints to ring out in a near-perfect imitation of the titular bells]. This shouldn’t be too surprising, since Bekhterev is something of an acknowkedged Scriabin specialist, but the results are thoroughly impressive nonetheless.
Arimori is not well-known at all, but he brings to the skazki some stellar contrapuntal playing - there are moments when he makes Medtner sound like Bach - as well as an improvisatory sense of freedom and colour [see 28:40, for instance, or the prayerlike 25:30, or the long unfurling line at 43:43].
00:00 - 2 Tales, Op.20 No.1 (Bekhterev)
03:04 - 2 Tales, Op.20 No.2, “Bells” (Bekhterev)
07:50 - 4 Tales, Op.26 No.1 (Arimori)
10:26 - 4 Tales, Op.26 No.3 (Bekhterev)
12:47 - Tale, Op.31 No.3 from “3 Morceaux” (Bekhterev)
15:31 - 4 Tales, Op.34 No.1, “The Magic Fiddle” (Bekhterev)
21:43 - 4 Tales, Op.34 No.2 (Bekhterev)
24:15 - 4 Tales, Op.34 No.4 (Arimori)
29:10 - 4 Tales, Op.35 No.4 (Bekhterev)
33:07 - 3 Tales, Op.42 No.1, “Russian Tale” (Arimori)
38:39 - 6 Tales, Op.51 No.1 (Arimori)
43:43 - 6 Tales, Op.51 No.2 (Arimori)
46:30 - 6 Tales, Op.51 No.3 (Arimori)
49:43 - Tale, Op.53, Book III, No.2, from Romantic Sketches for the Young, “The Barrel-Organ Player” (Bekhterev) - เพลง
Medtner is the only composer where, when interpreted creatively and musically, I am always caught exclaiming, "Wow!" "Nice!" "What the heck?" with the occasional "God that's amazing."
i'm the same , only it's usually " that's so beautiful"
I literally just said “what the hell?” Did you just read my mind?! 👀👀👀 wtf
The first one is just magical
Medtner is pure genius and very characteristic - like nobody else.
may be Godowski
It's so cool how spacious these pieces are while at the same time hold a fast pace and complexity! Such a pretty sound
They make amazing encore pieces. They are pretty short, but they are densely packed with so much complexity. That way the audience gets a great piece of music and gets to go home sooner lol
Love the way Medtner experimented with freedom offered by keyboard soundscapes.
After listening to classical piano pieces for about 15 years, I have found this a gem!!
I personally think Medtner's 1st piano concerto is the best introduction to his music... although it's a very extensive piece, it contains a huge variety of his style in all of the many "sections". After getting hooked to that piece, the other concerti, his quintet, and the rest of his music just became an absolute pleasure to enjoy!
PS. These pieces are freaking amazing!!
I think the Skazki and Forgotten Melodies are the best introduction to Medtner. If any concerto, it should be the second, in my opinion. It's one of my favourite pieces of music and one of Medtner's most accessible, yet most powerful works. The second movement is incredibly beautiful.
On the other hand, i still didn't really get into the first concerto, and i'm a huge Medtner fan.
I must say I'm really impressed by these two pianists. Especially love Bekhterev's performance of the first one (op.20 no.1, he plays it incredibly powerful) and Arimori's op.34 no.4!!
Op. 34 No. 4 (Bearing the opening line from one of Pushkin's poems, "There lived in the world a poor knight") is just peak Medtner for me. Dense textures, multiple melodic lines occurring simultaneously, and the coda! Functionally playing in two time signatures at once is hard enough, but each hand is managing multiple voices. Also the obsessively D major tonality is reminiscent of the climax from the first piano concerto's opening movement, an extended section in D major that Medtner just can't seem to escape -- every time you think it's about to move away, it stays in D major just a little longer. That concerto is Op. 33, so maybe by Op. 34 he just hadn't gotten it all out of his system yet. :)
I firmly believe in Op. 34/4 as one of the hidden gems of Medtner. It doesn't get quite as much attention as No. 2 from the same set, but it does contain everything you want in Medtner, and the repeated reharmonisations and rhythmic interplay of the two melodic themes is pure genius. You get more of this in the two late Elegies, and maybe in Sonata tragica, but it's really so much more concentrated here.
24:58, a motiv that appears in Medtner's piano concerto no.2 mv1. I always feel like wandering in a wonderland when I listen to the concerto, and now I know why.
My god this is beautiful, decadent, amazing music. Thank you.
I certainly hear what you have said about Hiroshi Arimori's playing. The clarity is truly outstanding, but I also think his overall sound as recorded is very beautiful. It is indeed a shame that he does not seem to be very well known outside Japan -- especially in the West. Playing of such outstanding quality deserves the widest hearing and recognition.
These performances are absolutely fascinating!
I enjoy your descriptions, comments and analyses. I feel so enriched and often so deeply touched that listening to this music brings tears to my eyes. Thank you very much, Mr Kumar. The very use of the word seductive (what a beautiful word-formation for music) for these works hits it deep. This music says: Come with me.
not going to lie the first kinda had me tearing up. like actually wow
Yes, definitely this is the best set of compositions for beginners of Medtner’s world.
I think the best intro to Medtner are the op38 and especially op.39 FORGOTTEN MELODIES IMHO
@@RozarSmacco uh
The only composer that can truly replicate the "manner of love" - where most composers prefer to get by with temporary appeal, Medtner's music impresses the suitor with an allure that demands understanding, a greater depth that drives lasting intrigue.
Zack Wyvern -- ....not even to mention the Debt that Rakhmaninov owed him......
@@steveegallo3384 I'd say he owed Rachmaninoff a much greater debt, particularly in the practicalities of life.
An underrated composer
the passage at 1:49 sounds like a living being in genuine agony
I like having the running music to follow. The music forms are beautiful.
Medtner's music is so mysterious.
This is like a "best-of" list of medtner's skazki
This video doesn't include my personal favorite, opus 14. Ophelia's Song and March of the Paladin are ingenious and gorgeous and i highly encourage listening to them :D
Op. 8 are excellent and definitely in my "best of" list..!
medtners music always makes me go ooo at every moment
This is great! I'm happy to have found another great composer, and of course it's also thanks to you and your channel. Keep it up!
Bongaz
, check vid "TOP 30 Russian composers", I am sure you have never heard about 4/5 of them
This is fantastic! I am just starting to explore Medtner. It's like the technique of Rachmaninoff with some of the levity of Debussy.
auron570 Medtner’s sonatas are a continuation of a legacy of Bach, Haydn, Beethoven, Brahms and Franck
This is really expanding relaxing 😌 I’ll have to listen to it to fall asleep 😴 to(e)Night!! Thx Medtner 4 posting to the server …
1:47 is so powerful
Skaska no.4 hits the sweet spot
All brand new to me. Thank you for this upload.
Beautiful
These are lovely suites thanks so much for making the video :)
These are utterly intoxicating. Medtner to me is very much a continuation of the early romantic idiom. By his time most late romantic composers were delving far deeper into chromaticism and atonality. I hear influences from Liszt and Rachmaninoff primarily in his music, which is interesting if you think about it. Bravo to the pianist too!
@liampitcher -- Superb.....BRAVO from Acapulco!
You're right, it is an easy way to Medtner; I bought complete piano music and put in the stereo the first cd and so. I love him, but was complicated. This version is much more better than the one I bought. Thanks so much.
Danke fürs hochladen.
01 - 0:00 Op. 20, No. 1
02 - 3:04 Op. 20, No. 2 "Campanella"
03 - 7:50 Op 26, No. 1
04 - 10:26 Op. 26, No. 3
05 - 12:47 Op. 31, No. 3
06 - 15:31 Op. 34, No. 1
07 - 21:43 Op. 334, No. 2
08 - 24:15 Op. 34, No. 4
09 - 29:10 Op. 35, No. 4
10 - 33:07 Op. 42, No. 1
11 - 38:39 Op. 51, No. 1
12 - 43:43 Op. 51, No. 2
13 - 46:30 Op. 51, No. 3
14 - 49:44 Op. 54, No. 2
What was the point of doing this, when the uploader has made a more detailed set of time stamps?
Shivank Menon could be so that mobile users have timestamps
Not all heroes wear capes
@@shivankmenon4722 The uploader actually is incorrect for piece #14 which is indeed op 54 no 2
Dad?
46:30 is so lovely!
Op 51, no.3 was the one piece that got me obsessed with Medtner some years ago. It was the only Medtner piece Horowitz ever recorded and it was that recording that did it for me.
I wonder if you would consider giving first names, especially of the lesser known pianists. Thank you.
Glad I found this. These are beautiful.
My mother is a pianist. She told me that her professor adored especially Medtner's music.
The first Medtner piece is heard was the Sonata-Ballade (on your channel, by the way), which I immediately fell in love with. It's still my favorite Medtner piece, but these are awesome as well. Thank you for introducing more people with Medtner's gorgeus music!
The nightwind is my ultimate goal. When I learn it, IF i learn it, I can die a happy man.
Night Wind is my favorite work of his and also one of my favorite works of all time!
Idk, ... but I‘ve listened every sonata of him including violin sonatas and vocalised one. I love them all b/c I found the beauty in every work. But imho I‘d like to listen to Idyll, G minor, Tragica, violin 1, 3 and vocalised.
@Brady Dill
What's wrong with his sonata ballade (not that you're saying that there is anything wrong with it), it's one of my favourite sonata by him. That being said, his night wind and sonata romantica are my favourite. Ballade and tragica come after that
@Brady Dill I used to think that his Sonata-Ballade was my favorite, and it definitely grew on me after each listen. However, after listening to his Sonata Minacciosa and Sonata Romantica multiple more times, I think that I like both of those more than the Sonata Ballade. Nonetheless, his Sonata-Ballade still tells an amazing story: it reminds me so much of the triumph of good over evil. The first movement is like a beautiful, serene town or locale that suffers some great calamity, misfortune, or injustice. The second movement is negativity and suffering, which transitions into the third movement, where some hero comes to save everybody, as they grapple and fight multiple times with the evil, and finally come out in glorious victory in the end.
To be honest though, while the Sonata Tragica has come very close, don't think Medtner's Night Wind has grown on me as much as any of these three. Maybe I will have to listen to it more!
The march at 34:46 is lit
I dare say Op. 34 no. 4 might be one of the finest piano miniatures to have been written since the late Brahms Intermezzi. Medtner's contrapuntal wizardry and economy of resources at its finest. Not to mention two of his most inspired melodies and a breathtaking coda! What a shame it often gets neglected
Have a listen to Hamish Milne play this piece, I much prefer his version to Arimori's. Sadly it's not available on youtube, only on spotify and apple music
Beautiful ! Happy New Year !
Medtner's Skazki are gems, all of them, especially opus 51. While I really like the performances uploaded here (thanks for it!), I personally prefer Irina Meyouevas recording.
I like it that, through a very strange link, medtner sounds a lot like ragtime sometimes (like in 49:50)
Absloutely, the first movement of his 2nd piano concerto is also very similar to ragtime
I've never played any Medtner, but some of these pieces could be a good starting point, as you suggest. Really nice!
toki I’ve known about Medtner for about 9 months and now I’m struggling with the second one. The first one was Canzona Matinata (it was not musically easy at all). The second one is now op 51 no 3 ... It demands me so much patience as if I must have go back to school learning Bach’s Wohltemperiertes Klavier ...
(I’m just an amateur ...)
No one plays the OP 20 skazki better than medtner himself. You can find those recordings on TH-cam. He was a phenomenal pianist, right along with his friend Rachmaninoff
Michael Rogers -- True...I had to check what I was hearing! At 21:43 - 4 Tales, Op.34 No.2 (Bekhterev), I was sure it was Rakhmaninov's 'Moments-Musicaux.' Greetings from San Agustinillo !
"A Russian fairy tale or folktale (Russian: ска́зка; skazka; "story"; plural Russian: ска́зки, romanized: skazki) is a fairy tale from Russia...." BRAVO from Acapulco!
24:15 the main theme of this Fairy tale sounds a lot like the 2nd theme from the 1st movement of his Piano Concerto No. 2
2:42 that shift jesus christ
Well, one thing you can say is that Medtner is Sui Generis (one of a kind). Doesn't sound like ANYONE else. Similar to Leos Janacek.
0:40 to 0:50 rachminoff 2nd concerto
THE DESCRIPTION HAS AN ERROR. 49:43 is Op. 54, not 53!!!
Pee
Who else was reminded at 7:50 of Rachmaninoff's Rapsody on a Theme of Paganini (Variation 18)?
I guess you can hear a similar melody between both hands there
This one also reminds me of Wagner's Siegfried Idyll (around 2:10 in the Gould piano recording of it)
A spot in Medtner that strongly resembles the melody of the 18th variation from the Rachmaninov "Rhapsody" is the slow movement of Medtner's Sonata op. 25 no 1, the 'Sonata-Tale'. The Medtner precedes the Rachmaninov by almost a quarter-century and is itself a very fine work!
is it just me or does the section at 20:34 remind of george gershwin, feels kind of like a melody he would write
Holy shit in another world that could be gershwin LOL
15:05 my favourite moment
Интересно познакомиться с произведениями Н.К. Метнера, которому посвятил С.В.Рахманинов Четвёртый Концерт.
43:43 gets me every time but this interpretation is much too fast for me
29:10
Where a theme from his 2nd piano concerto appears?
35:09-35:14 in the left hand is very similar to material in the first movement of the 2nd piano concerto. The theme shows up in the exposition after the tutti section about 5 minutes in that lands in Ab Major, and the piano enters back in with this theme.
Also: 28:40 in the upper register is found in the first movement of the 2nd piano concerto. That figuration appears all throughout the piece, notably at the start of the development in augmentation in the orchestra.
@@MusicSmith2 an amazing insight, thank you!
12:47
15:31
24:15
33:07
today is my first day practicing the magic fiddle💪
What about now?
I think there's an error in the description - The Barrel-Organ Player (last piece in the video) should be Op. 54 No. 3, not Op.53 No. 2
Sad there is no Hamelin.
Hamelin perfomed this pieces
His record label is really strict with copyright protection and will take down any video with their recordings
11:30 sounds like a nod to Clair de Lune
Is there a reason this does not include all of medtners tales?
Be careful, this video is a gateway drug
0:29
23:43 influenced by Rachmaninoff moment in music in e minor
What kind of people are you?
Yeah, I agree. Medtner was really a pure genius. But in fact a little bit in the shade of Scriabin and Rachmaninoff...
first 2-3 pages, who doesn't see n hear Chopins moscheles etude no. 2? 1:50 - unfortunately, helluv like americans yellow river concerto
Four people misclicked
his fairy tales are his most memorable works far exceeding such tedious works his Night Wind.
Night Wind is for the Medtner connoisseur during long, lonely winter nights alone in a cabin.
It will always give new insights and little pleasures of understanding.
I think Hamelin once called it his desert island piece, though recently he said if he had to choose only one piece, it would be Schubert's late B flat sonata.
"Night Wind" is a miracle of construction. Try this: make a little table of the motifs and themes that make up the sonata in its entirety. You will see that Medtner was able to construct architecture of great vitality, variation, and drive - out of just a handful of materials. Take a look and see for yourself!!
куда такие скорости, русская сказка вообще не должна так звучать, там половина смысла теряется
i liked the first 2. then it all gets boring
Really? The best ones imo are the later ones. They're incredibly imaginative.
Brady Dill why do i get critisized for my experience?
Why dont you people respect others opinion?? I liked all of the pieces but if he only enjoyed the first two then 👍
Who's to say he didn't listen to them enough? Him listening to a piece he doesn't like over and over will not change his opinion. Stop forcing your opinion on others or telling them theirs isn't valid (then give some fabricated reason for it).
i prefer hamelins interpretation of the first one it sounds to me more dynamic
Sublime. Fairy tales is skazka in Russian, not just tales. Much better than Rachmaninov, another level, that's why he was less popular.
You're wrong on both counts.
Medtner's Skazki are gems, all of them, especially opus 51. While I really like the performances uploaded here (thanks for it!), I personally prefer Irina Meyouevas recording.