I. Toccata: Allegro risoluto: 00:05 II. Romanza: Andante con moto: 16:00 III. Divertimento: Allegro risoluto e molto vivace: 24:53 Thank you very much for the 200 subs ! I hope you enjoy this upload, of one of the highlights of piano concerto litterature. Have a nice day!
I appreciate the fact that you don't have that many followers but you still put this great effort in creating high quality videos. You do it purely out of love for the composer's music (I assume). We can't say thank you enough.
Thanks, that means a lot to me. Yes, it's very much for the love I have about Medtner's music, also I'm happy to help other Medtner fan, or people that discover him with these videos!
@@SeigneurReefShark I am a big fan of Rachmaninoff's piano music, and I have never heard of Medtner until today, thanks to you. I discovered his amazing ambition in the composition of the piano sonatas. I was amazed by the musicality and depth in these original works. Very inspiring.
Sometimes I get overwhelmed by feelings because of how beautiful a concerto sounds. Sometimes because of how creative and clever the ideas are. In this, it's both.
I feel strangely serendipitous about discovering this piece, finding out that it is dedicated to Rachmaninoff, and then being given tickets by regulars of mine (I work in a restaurant) to see Rachmaninoff's Fourth Piano Concerto performed, which is dedicated to Medtner. It is such a wonderful feeling. I am truly lucky in life.
As an update, I was lucky enough to see Kenneth* Broberg play Rachmaninoff's 2nd Piano Concerto on 25.6.2023 - so beautiful (and overwhelming!) to hear live.
These two concertos are very connected. Rach admired the Medner 2 very much and his 4th, at least in the original unrevised form, is a very clear hommage to it.
Absolutely genius passage, especially at 9:03 when he references at least three or four different themes at the same time. A true master of motivic development
Such a ridiculously underrated monumental masterpiece! Certainly one of the finest concertos ever composed for the piano, and an easy contestant against any of Rachmaninoff’s piano concertos.
Underrated... so underrated... Both this piece and the composer... I sincerely love Medtner's style; How he builds his unique harmonics and rhythm. Glittering, Sparkling, Sweet, Nostalgic and Sorrowful. Medter is the true hybrid of great Rachmaninoff and Chopin. And I also love how he refers his other compositions in the piece. It makes me exite as when I saw Ironman at the Spiderman movie...
Carlos Encarnacion- The most beautiful piano concerto ever composed from my point of view. It is all beautiful from beginning to end. He was a genius. Should be play in concert programs Halls around the world more frequently.
One of the great masterpieces. It's neglect is scandalous and is de facto the argument against piano competitions. Fortunately a lovely recording of Medtner himself playing it survives. He also plays the short cadenza. For the long cadenza, try Demidenko
In the literature there's a popular opinion that the Medtner are very conservative composer. So, when I listen this concerto, I must to say that its harmonic plans and instrumentation are exciting and it's neither classical nor deeply modern.
He was a conservative composer. But that doesn't mean that he was a bad one. He was one of the best. A master of the Sonata form, rivaling Beethoven in that regard.
Highlights: 1:53 the gorgeous second theme 4:19 5:00 8:24 joyous fugato 14:07 22:30 26:46 piano figurations almost evocative of water, as the orchestra plays a beautiful theme 28:23 29:12 31:18 Theme 3 from first movement comes back, but in a lighter, even playful way 34:18 cadenza before the coda 34:54 coda 35:48 piano and orchestra race to the triumphant end
Tremendous. Wish he had written 50 Piano Concertos. I find it odd that he disliked writing the orchestra part, some parts of the Oboe and the Violins are beautiful
Unfortunately he did write other concertos which are not as good. It may be that this was the best he could ever write... Still, even one great concerto is more than what most composers will ever achieve.
@@SMECHOULANthe first is a bit rocky but the third is amazing just so deeply complex it takes a lot of listens and analysis to appreciate. There is a video which highlights the themes throughout the piece and I’d say it really helped me appreciate it. Once you understand the structure (first movement is not in sonata form unlike what Medtner usually does, and the whole thing is really one long movement with extended sections) it’s genius becomes apparent and it will stick with you forever.
Arguably one of the best piano concerto openings. (as well as being the best piano concerto along with his No.3) Love this and thank you for this video!
Personally I think the opening of his 1st Concerto is even better. 4 Chords and then those searing arpeggios with the Orchestra playing the theme, it's just amazing.
12:52 all the way just before the tone shifts toward the end is so highly emotionally charged movement, it can bring you to teats recalling moments. Loved ones, special people. And medtner knew so well. Love his music, the man the artist.
My favourite piece of music :) The first movement is just monumental, and the second incredibly beautiful. My favourite recording is by Nikolai Demidenko, supremely powerful (unfortunately only available on CD), but you can never go wrong with Tozer for Medtner of course. I always lamented that there weren't performances of this as great as Demidenko's on RU-vid, but now listening to Tozer again I think it's finally done justice on RU-vid, in some spots even more poetic. I once heard Hamelin play this live in Munich, for which i had to travel quite a distance, but it was definitely worth it, even though i'm not a big fan of his (other) live recording. I think he had very little time to rehearse with the orchestra there, if memory serves me right, even though it was his "wish piece" that was the one he selected as a concerto of his choice. Thanks for doing a scrolling score for this, good job!
Thanks ! I guess I'll buy that CD, if as you say its unbelievably great. Anwyay, i found that Hamelin recording is too dry on the record on youtube. Did he played it the same way on that Munich live ?
@@SeigneurReefShark no, i think he played it better in Munich, though of course it was a much better sound experience live anyways, so, hard to judge. I think he didn't have enough time to rehearse with the orchestra in that recording, so he had to play it safe, maybe that's why it sounds dry. Yes, i think Demidenko's recording is 'unbelievably great' :)
@@SeigneurReefShark Demidenko's recording is indisputably the best there is. Explosive and dramatic. I'm ambivalent about his third, because I absolutely love it for the same reason (I feel like he is the only one who plays the crescendo into the attacca from second to third movement the way it should be) but for the grandiose, narrative and magical aspects of its mood, I also see Tozer's recording as an equal alternative, and probably one that should definitely be listened to to truly experience the piece. For the second though, drama is king. Demidenko is a league of his own in terms of excitement. I really wish he would record the first, as I think it would benefit from the same approach, though it seems to be the most-recorded Medtner and there are some great recordings beside Tozer's now.
This concerto is absolutely astounding. Rich melodic speech, harmonies breathtaking orchestration constantly renewed in the use of the stamps of the instruments, in short a Babylonian sound architecture
The transition section from 25:59 - 26:16 is really pretty… awesome to hear him overlap the two themes like that so early in the piece! If you listen closely you can hear the low woodwinds play the second theme that the piano is about to play
Medtner, along with Bortkiewicz and Tchaikovsky, were my primary inspirations for my own compositional attempts at a piano concerto. Although I ended up scrapping the project after many months, I got immense value out of exposure to some of these lesser-known concerti, particularly Medtner's Second, which I consider to be his finest.
Medtner's Second is probably my favorite. There's nothing not to love about it - lush melodies, creative rhythms, Medtner's typical harmonic genius... And yet I can't help but feel that Medtner's Third Concerto is his greatest masterpiece. It's not as accessible as this one (I had to listen several times before I even began to appreciate it, and I'm still discovering new things about it). The Concerto Ballade is it's own universe in a way - it seems to contain all man's feelings and aspirations. Maybe that's an exaggeration, but I don't think I could ever get to the bottom of that concerto, it's so profound. It's like Rachmaninov's Third in that way.
Rachmaninoff himself thought very highly of Medtner’s works! They were in fact good acquaintances, if not friends. Rachmaninoff dedicated his 4th concerto to Medtner, who in turn dedicated his 2nd to Rachmaninoff.
I wouldn’t go along with a statement saying who is better or worse. Either of them has their own respective place in global musical culture. I personally as of yet haven’t developed a profound enough link to Medtner’s music to be able to judge him as better or worse than Rachmaninoff. Or vice versa.
Rachmaninoff in most pieces is more accessible and attractive to less trained ears. Medtner often takes repeated listenings to get into, and his melodies aren't as attractive and memorable. (by which i don't mean Medtner is "better" or anything) Though the Medtner Concerto 2 is just as accessible, dramatic, powerful and exciting as a Rachmaninoff concerto, so for me the bigger question is why this concerto isn't more popular and well known. I'm guessing one factor is it's hard to play for the orchestra because of the counterpoint and complex rhythms, the beginning alone is a recipe for disaster, as it needs precise, syncopated entries, which occur throughout the piece. (and this is why i think the "accessible Medtner" should be promoted and used as introduction first: His (Fairy) Tales, Forgotten Melodies (I and II), this concerto. These are almost infallibly immediately attractive on first listening. His sonatas and other longer pieces on the other hand often take many listenings to grasp. And these "accessible" pieces don't lack Medtner's characteristic counterpoint and complexity either, thankfully.)
I know the music and playing is extraordinary and all... but something about the resonance of the recording hall and the sound of the piano is just magical... Why can't I have a piano that sounds like that?
Hard to believe that Medtner disliked writing for orchestra. He thought it was an incredible chore. Too bad, since he was actually good at it, as opposed to Chopin, who also never cared to write for orchestra alone, just as Medtner.
holy sheet! I just discovered it today from the first few seconds of the 1st movement, I know it is going to be a masterpiece.. And I found yet another piano work to learn in my bucket list
Wow... i think i prefere (or understand) more this concerto than the first one.. weird That was so amazing, cant believe it. Why everybody always talk about the first one (IF someone talk about mednter wich is.. wierd too)
Quite frankly Medtner's piano concerto rivals Saint Saens, Tchaikovsky, Brahms, Beethoven, Rubinstein and others. Medtner was truly and extraordinarily great composer. This concerto has exquisite passages easily shifts your moods or enhances your cognitive ensembles of life.
Thank the heavens for Hyperion records and their amazing "Romantic Piano Concerto Series". The gems they unearthed over the decades since the series started, they should be given some kind of lifetime achievement award for that.
Imagine writing this piece with its hundreds if notes and complicated rhythms and intricate note lengths,where left hand is as complicated and independent as right hand
,Yes I agréé Medtner,Berkievitz and Sosenko have written works as impressive as Rachmaninov and as technical,and as dramatic,full of wonderful imaginative ideas,especially in dramatic moods and some gorgeous romantic melodies and moods,using the full resources of the piano and writing music supremely suited for the piano as artistically as anything Rachmaninov wrote
I imagine that pianists with the necessary technical and musical knowhow would love playing this, but for some reason it doesn;t get the exposure of other great romantic concertos. This is great shame.
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