Search - Medtner, Jarvi, Lpo :: Piano Concerto 2

Concertos that deserve more attention

Gregory C. Dyer | Downingtown, PA USA | 08/04/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Medtner, like Rachmaninoff and Scriabin, graduated from the Moscow Conservatory with a gold medal around the turn of the century, and his music shares much with these his two better known peers. A simple description for Medtner would be Rachmaninoff without the overtly flashy pianism. The 2nd concerto is a primarily formulaic, yet charming, late Romantic piano concerto. Medtner has enough good ideas to keep the music moving and the emotions conveyed are sincere. The 3rd concerto is the real gem, though. The flow of the music is so natural that it seems as if the music was a divine creation instead of a series of sounds strung together by a man. Medtner based this concerto on a poem about a creature swimming through the river of life towards divine understanding, and the images it evokes are certainly consistent with Medtner's inspiration. The composer weaves several main themes throughout the concerto and, while it has three movements, it is very easily viewed as a whole without true seperations. Jarvi and Tozer offer the appropriate tenderness and warmth in superb performances recorded in nearly flawless sound. With great music like this available, there really is no excuse for why transparent showpieces like Tchaikovsky's 1st piano concerto are constantly performed and recorded."