Medtner, Nicolai

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Medtner, Nicolai

Piano Concerto No.1 in C minor Op. 33

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Nikolai Medtner – First Piano Concerto Op. 33 in C minor

(geb. Moskau, 5. January 1880 – d. London, 13. November 1951)

Preface
Medtner’s First Piano Concerto Op. 33 in C minor occupies a decisive place in both Medtner’s oeuvre and in the 20th century repertoire for piano and orchestra.Written during the first world war (1914-18), its startingly structural innovations were obscured by the agitation caused by the premiers of such revolutionary modernist musical works as Schoenberg’s Pierrot Lunaire (1912) and Le Sacre du Printemps (1913) and even piano concertos by Medtner’s younger compatriots such as Prokofiev’s First Piano Concerto (1912) only a few years earlier. Yet Medtner’s First Piano Concerto is a daring and original contribution to the genre. One of the most ‘heroic’ of all of his works, it declares Medtner’s musical intentions to the world. These intentions represent less rupture but arguably no less originality than the more notorious works of many of his contemporaries.

It has often been remarked that Medtner’s musical aesthetic and compositional approach was remarkably stable throughout his career. This is true. Yet, this perspective suggests that his works did not evolve. We can in fact discern fascinating development and a great deal of variety in the composer’s creative work. The compositional output can be seen as punctuated by key musical works as well by his important book Muza i Moda (The Muse and Fashion, 1935). If the book represents a credo (which literally means ‘I believe’), that is, a systematic statement of articles of faith – and Medtner certainly insists on the term ‘belief’ in the text – the First Piano Concerto represents, I suggest, a manifesto, that is, a public declaration of intentions. Manifestos were indeed à la mode in Russia in the years preceding and following the revolution, precisely the years during which Medtner wrote the First Piano Concerto. In Muza i Moda, makes public ideas that he had long held to be true. Accordingly, it is useful to search the manifesto for indications concerning how to understand the First Piano Concerto written some two decades earlier.

Moreover, the place of First Piano Concerto in Medtner’s compositional production is significant. Unlike his dear friend Rachmaninov (who had completed his First Piano Concerto when he was only eighteen years old – and even this was not his first attempt), Medtner waited until relatively late to write his concerto: he completed it at the age of thirty-eight. Arguably, Medtner dedicated himself to the piano concerto only once he was fully mature as a composer. It is as if he had been gathering his energies in order to make the public statement that is his First Piano Concerto. In fact, the boldness and compactness of the work suggests that Medtner aimed to congeal in it his musical creativity that until then he had developed in more intimate (if nevertheless large scale) forms, above all in his piano sonatas. …

 

Read full preface / Das ganze Vorwort lesen> HERE

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