MEDTNER
COMPLETE PIANO SONATAS • 1 “As a young piano student, a Fairy Tale by a certain Nikolai Medtner captivated me. I yearned to discover more, but in those days his scores were largely out-of-print, recordings even rarer. Over the years, the search for this elusive composer has taken me to archives and libraries in several countries...even a Maharaja's palace in India! Now, I am proud to have joined the small but devoted band of Medtnerians who take delight in presenting this wonderful and unjustly neglected music to audiences worldwide.” – Paul Stewart |
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Nikolay Medtner © HNH International Ltd. |
ABOUT THIS RELEASE
Like his near-contemporary Rachmaninov, who called him 'the greatest composer of our time', Nikolay Medtner was a composer, pianist and an exile from his native Russia. His portfolio of works includes a remarkable series of pieces for his own instrument, including fourteen sonatas and some hugely evocative, deeply poetic miniatures. |
Sonatina in G minor (1898) (07:29) Sonata No. 1 in F Minor, Op. 5 * (35:26) Sonata-Reminiscenza in A Minor, Op. 38, No. 1 (15:27) * The original, first version of the Sonata No. 1 has been used, and this is World Premiere Recording of the first version. |
Paul Stewart |
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Canadian pianist Paul Stewart launched his career in 1981 with a stunning performance of Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1 with the Toronto Symphony. Since then he has appeared in concert throughout Canada, the United States (including Carnegie Hall, New York and the Kennedy Center, Washington), Mexico, South America, the United Kingdom, Europe and Asia. He is a frequent guest-soloist with major orchestras in Canada and abroad, and has collaborated with such artists as James Ehnes, Maureen Forrester, Ben Heppner, Jessye Norman, Mstislav Rostropovich, Pinchas Zukerman, and the Leipzig, Prague and Moscow String Quartets. His British début in London's Wigmore Hall was broadcast by the BBC, and a performance of Rachmaninov's Piano Concerto No. 4 with the Moscow State Symphony Orchestra was heard throughout Russia and subsequently released on a bestselling CD. Other recordings include works by Beethoven, Britten, Honegger, Liszt, Prokofiev, Ravel, Schubert and Strauss; for Grand Piano he is currently recording the complete piano sonatas of Nikolay Medtner, a composer he has championed and performed on four continents. Paul Stewart is a Professor of Piano at the Université de Montréal. "Spectacular....a performance atmospheric but pristinely articulated, |
Grand Piano is a new premium label dedicated to the exploration of undiscovered keyboard repertoire. Pulling from a deep pool of talent around the globe, Grand Piano brings to life exciting interpretations of these gems of the piano repertoire. Grand Piano will release around 20 new titles each year, including many world premières and complete cycles. | ||||||||||||||||||||
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