Nikolai Medtner - Skazki (Hamish Milne)

Information

Composer: Nikolai Medtner

CD1:

• Skazki, Opp. 8, 9, 14, 20, 26, 31/3, 34 & 35

CD2:

• Skazki, Opp. 42, 48, 51 & Skazka "1915"
• Romantic Sketches for the Young, Op. 54

Hamish Milne, piano

Date: 2007

Label: Hyperion

https://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/dc.asp?dc=D_CDA67491/2

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Review

ARTISTIC QUALITY: 9 / SOUND QUALITY: 9

How fitting for Hyperion to feature Hamish Milne in a milestone release that gathers all of Nikolai Medtner’s Skazki (Fairy Tales) in one collection. After all, Milne has long championed Medtner’s music, and in fact recorded lots of it for the CRD label beginning in the late 1970s, including quite a few of the Skazki. The pianist remains as sensitive as ever to the composer’s polyphonic rigor and subtle harmonic palette (more akin to Fauré and early Poulenc than to his Russian contemporaries), and with a luminous tone to match. He achieves the latter with little help from the sustain pedal, letting his fingers take care of the legato. A telling example of this is the graceful A major Op. 51 No. 3, where Milne’s careful observance of long versus short phrases imparts a tart edge to the music’s surface sweetness.

Although Milne has plenty of technique, he favors poetry over panache, allowing himself more room for rubato and melodic inflection. In certain instances I prefer Milne’s more lithe and incisively executed earlier versions of faster pieces such as the Bird’s Tale (Op. 54 No. 2) or the tarantella-like Op. 26 No. 2, yet the sustaining power and architectural sweep he brings to the less descriptive, more abstract orchestral-inspired numbers (the Allegro Appassionato e Tempestoso Op. 35 No. 4) constitutes nothing less than big piano playing. Milne’s own booklet notes are scholarly, informative, and passionate. [7/23/2007]

-- Jed Distler, ClassicsToday

More reviews:
https://www.classicalsource.com/cd/skazki/

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2007/mar/30/classicalmusicandopera.shopping3

https://www.allmusic.com/album/medtner-the-complete-skazki-mw0001862789

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Medtner-Complete-Skazki-Nikolai-Karlovich/dp/B000NIWICC

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Nikolai Medtner (5 January 1880 [O.S. 24 December 1879] – 13 November 1951) was a Russian composer and pianist. He studied at the Moscow Conservatory from 1891 to 1900, having studied under Pavel Pabst, Wassily Sapellnikoff, Vasily Safonov and Sergei Taneyev among others. His works include 14 piano sonatas, three violin sonatas, three piano concerti, a piano quintet, two works for two pianos, many shorter piano pieces, a few shorter works for violin and piano, and 108 songs including two substantial works for vocalise. His 38 Skazki for piano solo contain some of his most original music.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikolai_Medtner

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Hamish Milne (27 April 1939 – 12 February 2020) was an English pianist known for his advocacy of Nikolai Medtner. He studied with Harold Craxton at the Royal Academy of Music and then in Italy with Guido Agosti. At the Accademia Chigiana in Siena he was lucky enough to hear the classes of Casals, Cortot, Segovia and, in particular, Sergiu Celibidache. Milne appeared as soloist with most of the leading British orchestras and gave over two hundred broadcasts for the BBC. He was also well known as a chamber musician. Milne recorded for Chandos, CRD, Danacord and Decca, as well as for Hyperion.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamish_Milne

https://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/a.asp?a=A22

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