Medtner - Sonata-Idyll in G major, Op. 56 (1937)

Geoffrey Tozer, piano

Germany's economic state in the early 1930s prompted Medtner's Germany-based publisher, Zimmermann, to ask him for some more technically accessible music, hoping to bolster sales. (Medtner's most recently published opus, the Sonata Romantica and Sonata Minacciosa, are among his most challenging works.) This request brought about the Romantic Sketches for the Young, Op. 54, Theme and Variations, Op. 55, and Sonata-Idyll, Op. 56. These works, though certainly lighter in mood, still contain technical demands that make them inaccessible to most amateurs.

The Sonata-Idyll in G major, Op. 56 of 1937, is Medtner's fourteenth and final piano sonata. As the title suggests, the character of the work is serene and bucolic from start to finish, a far cry from the uncompromising chromaticism and complexity of his previous two sonatas. The first movement, a simple ternary form, is the most technically simple solo piano work Medtner ever wrote, yet easily one of his most beautiful. The second movement is a restless sonata-allegro with three themes.

MOVEMENT I
0:00 A section
1:30 B section, first half. The first theme is brought back in four-part harmony.
2:00 B section, second half. A haunting E minor section built around an ostinato (G-F#-A) in the left hand.
2:44 A section. Returns in the wrong key of E major, but quickly moves to tonic G major.

MOVEMENT II
EXPOSITION
4:27 THEME 1, G MAJOR. The melodic first theme is split into two phrases, each developed separately.
5:15 THEME 2, B MINOR. A lively triplet-based theme, once again split into two distinct parts. Reminiscent of Op. 26, No. 2. Also present in this section is a chordal motive, providing contrast with Theme - first heard at 5:10 but not fully introduced until 5:27.
5:58 A gentle descending cascade brings us to...
6:03 THEME 3, D MAJOR. One of Medtner's finest melodies. First heard in the right hand, then in the left hand beneath right hand filigree.
6:38 T1,1 is brought back in canon, closing out the exposition.

DEVELOPMENT
7:04 Theme 1
7:20 Theme 3
7:41 Theme 1
7:48 Theme 1
7:54 Theme 3
8:07 Theme 2 alternates with Theme 3, heightening tension.
8:28 THEME 2, E MINOR. A full restatement of Theme 2 in the development, and a fifth down no less? Medtner pulls a bit of formal trickery here, to be explained below. The gentle cascade that brought us from the B minor Theme 2 to the D major Theme 3 now brings us instead from E minor to...

RECAPITULATION
9:20 THEME 1, G MAJOR. Diminished note values.
9:43 Since Theme 2 was already heard in full in the development, what does Medtner use to replace it? Both halves of Theme 1, compressed into triplets and barely recognizable. Marked vivo, giocoso, in the spirit of Theme 2.
9:59 Transition to Theme 3, built on T1,2.
10:14 Theme 3 returns ff, molto sostenuto, maestoso. As pianist Paul Stewart says, "one of the great moments in all Medtner". Medtner, not often one for prolonged climax, quickly whisks us off through a chromatic fog (10:45) into...

CODA
10:53 Theme 2 is brought back, being mostly absent in the recapitulation. The music gently tapers off, and the final arpeggio leaves the entire compass of the keyboard resonating with G major.

Видео Medtner - Sonata-Idyll in G major, Op. 56 (1937) канала Alan Kuo