Sonata Reminiscenza

What do you think of Medtner's Sonata Reminiscenza? I have heard two terrific live performances(by Gilels ages ago and by Irina Morozova at this summer's Mannes International Keyboard Festival) and have a recording by Gregory Ginsburg. Every time I hear the piece I like it more and am more inclined to think it is a masterpiece. Yet it is the ONLY Medtner work I have ever heard! Are other Medtner works as hauntingly beautiful? Do you think this piece is one of Medtner's best are all of his works of such high quality?

Medtner seems to be one of the more undiscovered treasures of the twentieth century (and that's an opinion you'll find repeated often when reading about him).

I haven't heard his sonatas yet. I started buying a couple of CDs to get to know his music, and started with the Piano Concerto No. 2, then some of his songs (I like op.1 no.1, both piano+vocal and piano solo), then one of various music for piano solo, on which I like the Improvisations, op.2 (though I can't find the sheet music anywhere). Of, the Three Hymns in Praise of Toil, Op. 49 are good, too.

My favorite Medtner work is the Piano Quintet (which can be found on a Naxos cd coupled with the Second Piano Concerto). I have recordings of his sonatas and all three concertos, but I think it will take repeated listenings before I'll begin to appreciate it all.

It is a fine, very original work which is highly effective with even newbie audiences, with a devastatingly gorgeous opening theme which returns right at the end for a great effect, if not a very deep one.

The Third Concerto comes close in that particular aspect. Medtner is rarely meditative, as he is in the Sonata-Reminiscenza. He's a real motoric composer, even moreso than Prokofiev because he will keep the motor going even through the slower contrasting portions. This is palpable in the Sonata-Reminiscenza but the motor is not as insistent (or, to some, annoying).

Not all, but several are as good and a couple are definitely superior, like the Piano Quintet, the G minor Sonata Op. 22 or the early F minor sonata Op. 5. The three piano concertos are well worth investigating, as are the miniature Skazki (Fairy Tales), the variation sets, and the massive Improvisations Nos. 1 and 2.

-Jeffrey Jones

Dear Sonarrat

Thanks for your reply. I have read quite a few of your posts and you always seem very knowledgsble. So I am curious, are you a professional pianist or teacher?

He's a poster child for the piano.

Yes. Literally.

He's a cat. On the net, no one knows Sonarrat is a cat...

everybody wants to be a cat....