Composer: Nikolai Medtner
Performer: Sofia Fomina, Alexander Karpeyev
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Chandos
Catalogue: CHAN20171
Release: 2021
Size: 935 MB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
Poems After Pushkin, Op. 36
01. No. 1, The Angel
02. No. 2, The Flower
03. No. 3, When Roses Fade
04. No. 4, Spanish Romance
05. No. 5, Night
06. No. 6, Arion
Poems, Op. 37
07. No. 1, Sleeplessness
08. No. 2, Tears
09. No. 3, Impromptu
10. No. 4, The Waltz
11. No. 5, Night Wind
Poems, Op. 45
12. No. 1, Elegy
13. No. 2, The Wagon of Life
14. No. 3, Night Song
15. No. 4, Our Time
Lieder, Op. 46
16. No. 1, Prelude
17. No. 2, Hallowed Place
18. No. 3, Prospect
19. No. 4, In the Forest
20. No. 5, Winter Night
21. No. 6, The Spring
22. No. 7, Sing Out!
Like his friend and contemporary Rachmaninoff, Nikolai Medtner enjoyed a privileged and affluent upbringing, and was also exiled from Russia following the revolution in 1917. Unlike Rachmaninoff, Medtner could point to an ancestry that was part German, and his fathers passion for Germanic culture ensured that Goethe and Beethoven exerted as much influence on the young Medtner as Russian composers and writers, in particular Beethovens piano sonatas and string quartets. Medtner moved first to Germany, then France, before settling in London in 1935. The earlier songs in this programme, Opp. 36 and 37, were written against the backdrop of the revolution, shortly before he fled Russia. Opp. 45 and 46 (written to Russian and German texts, respectively) were composed in France. Praised for her formidably striking and stunning silvery sound, the rising star soprano Sofia Fomina has performed in Toulouse and Baden-Baden, at Bayerische Staatsoper, Seattle Opera, Hungarian State Opera, Paris Opéra, and The Royal Opera, Covent Garden. Her Pamina for Glyndebourne Festival Opera in 2019 received rave reviews. Alexander Karpeyev has performed throughout Europe and toured in the USA, Canada, and Russia as a concerto soloist, recitalist, and chamber musician. A prize-winner of several international competitions, he also completed a doctorate on performance practise in the music of Medtner, based on the Edna Iles Medtner Collection at the British Library.