Search - Nikolay Medtner, Alexander Lazarev, New Budapest String Quartet :: The Romantic Piano Concerto 8 - Medtner 1

Wonderful music and superb performance

caspi | Israel | 06/26/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"How could Medtner's music be neglected for almost a century ?It's unbelievable and unjustifiable for sure.The music presented here (like all Medtner's music in general) resembles Rachmaninov's style, especially in it's lyrical pages. Eternal proof for their friendship.The first few accords of the First Piano Concerto introduce you immediately to an ocean of passion and emotions, rich melodies and harmony, fascinating rhytmical figures, virtuoso piano writing. The concerto design is monolithic with the thrilling main subject giving birth to several others, more lyrical and calm, which all together pierce through the whole work and thus build it's skeleton.The Quintet is a very interesting addition for a CD, though it's music is more difficult to seize at a first listening.This is the first time I hear Dmitry Alexeev's playing and it's amazing. Mature, with flawless technique, singing every note, retrieving remarcably rich sound from the piano. I'd like to mark 2 places as the most striking - the first is the recapitulation of the main subject in the Concerto, and the second is the very end of it - the last 2 bells. More wise reading is hard to imagine.I highly recommend the CD to each classical music fan fond of romantic trend, especially to those, who love piano. You just get an hour of lasting pleasure."

Don't miss this wonderful composer!

Muriel Schwenck | Half Moon Bay, Calif | 05/21/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Rachmaninov greatly admired Medtner and sponsored him during some hard times following the Russian Revolution. I read that Medtner was considered a "composer's composer" by his contemporaries. That seems like a great endorsement!"

I thought I knew Medtner

NotATameLion | Michigan | 10/05/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I thought I knew Medtner until I listened to this recording. This disc is something really special. Music like this burns its way into your soul. All that is good and true about what was Romantic music in both Russia and Germany collide in this music. All the participants here (Dmitri Alexeev, The New Budapest Quartet, The BBC Symphony Orchestra, and conductor Alexander Lazarev) add something to this picture. The opening piece, the Piano Concerto No 1 in C MINOR op 33, blows me away. This is passionate, thundering music which rips through you. It is a masterpiece.More impressive to me than even the concerto is the Piano Quintet in C Major. I place it alongside of the Borodin String Quartet's recordings of Borodin's quartets as some of the best ensemble music in my collection (you have no idea how insanely high this praise is in my own mind).I have the majority of Hyperion's Romantic Piano Concerto series. This disc is among the best in the collection. I recommend it."