Natalia Lomeiko, Alexander Karpeyev, Theodore Platt - Medtner in England (2023) [Official Digital Download 24/192]

SOMM Recordings announces Medtner in England, a revelatory new recording exploring the musical life of Nikolai Medtner, featuring violinist Natalia Lomeiko, pianist Alexander Karpeyev and baritone Theodore Platt. Born in Moscow, Medtner was to adopt England as his home, dying in London, aged 70, in 1951. The English capital seemed to provide him with a liberating creative space as the three featured works here eloquently suggest. Simultaneously composed between 1935 and 1938 were the twomovement Op.56 Sonata-Idylle in G major - which moves from its 'Pastorale' opening to, as composer and pianist Francis Pott comments in his authoritative booklet notes, "a valedictory late-summer haze" - and its immediate successor, the four-part, symphony-sized Epica Violin Sonata No.3, "an act of remembrance" for Medtner's brother, Emil. Both works are the product of a period in which Medtner was attempting to "pare down the virtuosity of his piano writing". And both, in their intricate design and execution, illustrate his productive struggle with the ambition. From his more than 100 songs, the posthumously assembled miscellany of the Op.61 Eight Songs span the near quarter-century from 1927 to the year of Medtner's death. Employing poems by Pushkin, Lermontov, Eichendorff and Fyodor Tyutchev, they are variegated exercises in temperament and mood that look back towards Schubert and forwards to Medtner's own distinctive way in setting words and conveying emotions.

TRACKLIST

1. Alexander Karpeyev - Violin Sonata No. 3 in E Minor, Op. 57 "Epica": I. Introduzione: Andante meditamente - Allegro
2. Alexander Karpeyev - Violin Sonata No. 3 in E Minor, Op. 57 "Epica": II. Scherzo: Allegro molto vivace a leggiero
3. Alexander Karpeyev - Violin Sonata No. 3 in E Minor, Op. 57 "Epica": III. Andante con moto
4. Alexander Karpeyev - Violin Sonata No. 3 in E Minor, Op. 57 "Epica": IV. Finale: Allegro molto
5. Alexander Karpeyev - Sonata-Idylle in G Major, Op. 56: I. Pastorale: Allegro cantabile
6. Alexander Karpeyev - Sonata-Idylle in G Major, Op. 56: II. Allegro moderato e cantabile
7. Alexander Karpeyev - Eight Songs, Op. 61: No. 1, Travelling Song
8. Alexander Karpeyev - Eight Songs, Op. 61: No. 2, Night Greeting
9. Alexander Karpeyev - Eight Songs, Op. 61: No. 3, What is my name to you?
10. Alexander Karpeyev - Eight Songs, Op. 61: No. 4, If life deceives you
11. Alexander Karpeyev - Eight Songs, Op. 61: No. 5, Prayer
12. Alexander Karpeyev - Eight Songs, Op. 61: No. 6, Noon
13. Alexander Karpeyev - Eight Songs, Op. 61: No. 7, Oh my foreboding soul
14. Alexander Karpeyev - Eight Songs, Op. 61: No. 8, Repose



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