Delucchi, Emanuele
Nikolai Medtner
Nikolai Medtner, a Russian composer, was hailed as one of the greatest musicians of his time by some of his illustrious colleagues, including Sergei Rachmaninov and Dmitry Shostakovich. A genius pianist and composer, he abandoned Russia after the Bolshevik Revolution, and found his second homeland in England. Three of his most representative works are recorded here: the Sonata-Ballade, whose extra-musical inspiration is found in the Gospel episode of Christs temptations in the wilderness; the Sonata-Idyll, whose comparative simplicity mirrors its luminous content and its tendency to evoke religious symbolism; and the second book of Forgotten Melodies (op. 39), where another one-movement Sonata is found (the Sonata tragica), along with other pieces exploring the full range of the emotional and affective palette of the composers creativity.