Earl Wild Forgotten Melodies

The Piano Music of Nikolai Medtner

“I repeat what I said to you back in Russia: you are, in my opinion, the greatest composer of our time.“ Sergei Rachmaninoff (1921)

“Inspiration comes, where thought is saturated in emotion, and emotion is imbued with sense.” Nikolai Medtner

“There may be many different ways of playing a piece, but always one way that is the best.” Nikolai Medtner

– 3 –

The Piano Music of Nikolai Medtner

Second Improvisation Op. 47 (in the form of Variations) 1. Theme: The Mermaid’s Song 2:08 10. A Wood-Goblin :23 2. Meditation 1:28 11. Elves 1:02 3. Caprice 1:16 12. Gnomes 1:08 4. The Feathered Ones 1:54 13. Incantation 1:51 5. Charms 1:13 14. The Threat 2:25 6. Fancies 1:36 15. The Mermaid’s Song 1:42 7. In the Stream 1:30 16. Bad Weather 2:17 8. The Tumult of the Crowd 1:30 17. Conclusion 1:47 9. In the Woods :55 Total Time 26:03 Sonate-Idylle in G major Op. 56 18. Pastorale: Allegretto cantabile 3:17 19. Allegro moderato e cantabile 8:20 Total Time: 11:37 Vergessene Weisen (Forgotten Melodies) Op. 39 20. Meditazione: Introduzione, quasi Cadenza – Meno mosso – Meditamente 5:27 21. Romanza: Meditamente 4:43 22. Primavera: Vivace 3:47 23. Canzona matinata: Allegretto cantando, ma sempre con moto 4:38 24. Sonata tragica: Allegro risoluto 10:24 Total Time: 28:39 Total Disc Time: 66:40

– 5 – The Piano Music of Nikolai Medtner =

Like Sergei Rachmaninoff and Alexander Scriabin, Nikolai Medtner was one of the last great composer / pianists of the Romantic period and, like his Russian peers, he found the piano to be the center of his creative focus and compositional output. His music shows a broad understanding of the piano’s capabilities as a most com- municative instrument. His music, like that of Rachmaninoff or Scriabin, provides the performer with great challenges to overcome, both technically and emotionally, without exploiting virtuosity simply for its own sake. Medtner’s musical style was far more traditional than that of his contemporaries. His music is firmly rooted in the Western classic tradition; Bach, Beethoven, and Brahms were particularly strong influences. Medtner’s compositional style changed very little throughout his career, each work composed is of equal, consistant quality. His obituary in The Musical Times described Medtner and his music by saying, “He was original in his use of tra- ditional idioms, as in his use of traditional forms. He had power of design, warmth of feeling, and an aristocratic tone; and it is for this combination of qualities that he stands high in the esteem of musicians, while remaining little known to the concert public.” Born in Moscow on December 24, 1879 (according to the “old style” calendar – according to the western calendar his birth date was January 5, 1880), Nikolai Karlovich Medtner began his musical studies at the age of six. His father, Karl Medtner, who owned a lace factory in Moscow, greatly admired Goethe and Pushkin and instilled in his son a profound love for poetry, art and philosophy.

– 6 – He received his first piano lessons from his mother and continued his studies with his uncle, until 1892 when he enrolled at the Moscow Conservatory. His suc- cession of piano teachers at the famous Russian institution included Anton Arensky, Paul Pabst, Vasily Sapel’nikov and Vasily Safonov. These four teachers helped mold Medtner into such a fine pianist that he was awarded the school’s gold medal as the most outstanding pianist of 1900. In August of 1900, after placing at the top of the honorable mention list in the Rubinstein Competition, Medtner began to plan for his career as a concert pianist. In the end, however, Medtner chose composition rather than the life of a pianist. Nikolai had composed music throughout his tenure as a student at the Moscow Conservatory and had formally studied theory (with Kashkin), harmony (with Arensky), and counterpoint (with Taneyev). Largely a self-taught composer, Medtner, with the support of both his older brother and mentor, Emil, as well as his teacher Sergei Taneyev, decided to pursue a career in composition. While continuing to perform occasional piano recitals, Medtner began to com- pose with almost a religious zeal. The concerts in which he performed were usually programmed with his own compositions; such commitments as a composer and per- former would continue throughout the whole of his life. Of Medtner’s entire cata- logue of repertoire, the piano can be found as an important participant in each work, either in a solo capacity or an accompanimental one. In 1903 his professional composing career began to get underway when the Polish piano virtuoso Josef Hofmann obtained a copy of Medtner’s first printed work, the Piano Sonata in F Minor, Op. 5. Both Hofmann and later Rachmaninoff became strong supporters of Medtner’s compositions. The most positive impression of his early music was made in his home of Moscow, where, over time, he established a considerable public following. At the same time, his music failed to find success with German critics and audiences. In 1909 Medtner received the Glinka Prize for three groups of songs he composed using poetry by Goethe; it was this award and other

– 7 – successes that led to his appointment at the Moscow Conservatory as a professor of piano. Unsympathetic to the Bolshevik Revolution, Medtner and his wife Anna moved abroad in 1921. It was a time of broad musical experimentalism and Medtner, a staunch traditionalist, found his new home in Berlin to be unwelcoming. There was little interest in his music and even fewer concerts. It was at this time that Rachmaninoff stepped in to assist Medtner both financially and in the organization of a concert tour of the United States between 1924 and 1925 (the two composers saluted each other’s friendship by dedicating works to one another; Rachmaninoff dedicated his Fourth Piano Concerto to Medtner and Medtner dedicated his Second Piano Concerto to Rachmaninoff). Following this American tour, Medtner tried to set- tle in Paris only to find the artistic environment there just as unsuitable as Berlin. His time in Paris was only redeemed by a fostering friendship with French composer Marcel Dupre, an unlikely colleague who found Medtner’s music as well as his play- ing, sufficiently profound to render support during this rough period. In 1928, Medtner received his first concert engagements in the United Kingdom where he performed, with much success, his Piano Concerto No. 2 at a concert with the Royal Philharmonic Society. Relieved to have finally found such an enthusiastic reception for his music, Medtner accepted an appointment as an honorary member of the Royal Academy of Music. Tragedy would, however, strike once again when he accepted, purely out of financial need, a second tour of America (this time including concerts in Canada) between 1929 and 1930. The check he received as payment for his concert tour bounced, leaving Medtner in desperate financial need. His survival was, once again, due mainly to the generosity of Rachmaninoff. In October of 1935, Medtner decided that the best possibilities for his future indeed lay in England. He moved with his wife to a house in Golders Green, where they resided for the next sixteen years. His modest success was interrupted in 1939 by the outbreak of World War II (similarly, his first tenure at the Moscow

– 8 – Conservatory was cut short by the First World War). There was no longer demand for concerts, compositions, or piano lessons; additionally, he no longer received royalties, perhaps understandably, from his German publishers. Concerned for Medtner and his well- being, his friends once again stepped in. In September of 1940 when the blitzkriegs made it impossible to work and unsafe to live in London, pianist Edna Iles, a long- time supporter of Medtner and his music, opened her home in Warwickshire to the composer and his wife. Interestingly, even the musical community in the United States seemed to help bear the load of Medtner’s monetary woes; Earl Wild along with many other members of the NBC Symphony Orchestra, collected donations to send to Maharajah of Mysore Medtner. While working on his third piano con- certo, Concerto-Ballade (sadly it would be his last) in 1942, Medtner had a serious heart attack. In February of 1944, following a modest recovery, Medtner was able to participate as soloist (Sir Adrian Boult, conducting), in the premiere of his new con- certo at London’s Royal Albert Hall. While his health continued to suffer, Medtner’s final years were met with a cer- tain degree of unexpected success. In 1946, under the patronage of Sir Jaya Chamarajenda Wadylar, His Highness The Maharajah of Mysore (the dedicatee of

– 9 – Medtner’s third and final piano concerto), the Medtner Society was established; a Foundation that championed the composer recording a series of his own composi- tions. Over a period of four years, HMV released several gramophone recordings of these works. Despite the fact, that due to age and illness his technical powers had begun to falter, these recordings provide a rare insight into Medtner’s musical world. Unfortunately he succumbed to ill health before completing the project. The Medtner Foundation still exists today and the famous 78 rpm recordings made by HMV are a last being re-released on CD. In his final months and days, Medtner’s medical condition deteriorated rapidly. He sat at the piano for the last time on October 31, 1951 but could not muster the energy to work. He said to his wife Anna, “My fingers can play but my heart can do no more; it is as if I have a mountain to lift up.” Two days before his death he slipped into a coma; he died peacefully on the morning of November 13, 1951. In 1995, the first definitive biography of Medtner’s life was written by the schol- ar Barrie Martyn, titled Nicolas Medtner: His Life and Music. =

Composed between June and September of 1925, the Second Improvisation, Op. 47 is in fact, similar to Medtner’s First Improvisation, Op. 31, No. 1, a set of marvelous vari- ations. Like the earlier work, the title refers more to the mood of the work than its actu- al form. The Op. 47 is subtitled, ‘In the form of Variations’ and is set as a theme, which Medtner gave the title “The Mermaid’s Song,” as well as fifteen delightful and very inven- tive variations. The work is long, almost four times longer than the First Improvisation, and it is perhaps due to this issue that Rachmaninoff reportedly discussed with Medtner “the subject of long-windedness and the need to cut down, compress, and not be verbose.”

– 10 – Prior to the publication of the piece, Medtner specified variations which could, at the performer’s discretion, be removed and the remaining variations reordered. In this recording, Earl Wild performs the complete, unedited variations – as Medtner originally intended the piece to be performed. Following his return to London in April of 1937, Medtner continued work on a piano sonata which he had begun two years earlier in Paris, completing it in October and publishing it two years later as Op. 56. Medtner himself premiered the piece on February 10, 1939 in Aeolian Hall. The Sonate-Idylle Op. 56 has often been considered a com- panion piece to the earlier Theme and Variations of Op. 55, No. 1 and is the last piano sonata written by Medtner; both compositions were dedicated to the Conuses family. Additionally, there is a connection with another earlier work, the Romantic Sketches, which Medtner explained to Rachmaninoff saying, “It belongs to the cycle of pieces I have been writing with the deliberate intention of moderating the virtuoso difficulty of the piano style. I know that I have far from succeeded in fulfilling this good intention…” In the two-movement Sonate-Idylle Op. 56, the piece bears a mood of happy inno- cence; both movements are in the bright key of G major with the first movement inscribed with the subtitle “Pastorale.” Medtner composed three cycles of short piano works to which he gave the title Vergessene Weisen, or Forgotten Melodies. The second cycle of Op. 39 dates to around 1920 and consists of five movements; Meditazione, Romanza, Primavera, Canzona mati- nata and Sonata tragica, the first and last of which are thematically linked.

©2005 Christopher Weiss

– 11 – Earl Wild Biography =

Earl Wild is a pianist in the grand Romantic tradition. Considered by many to be the last of the great Romantic pianists, this eminent musician is known interna- tionally as one of the last in a long line of great virtuoso pianist / composers. Often heralded as a super virtuoso and one of the Twentieth Century’s greatest pianists, Earl Wild is a legendary figure performing throughout the world for over eight decades. Major recognition is something Mr. Wild has received numerous times in his long career. He was included in the Philips Records series entitled, The Great Pianists of the 20th Century with a double disc devoted exclusively to piano transcriptions. He has been featured in TIME Magazine on two separate occasions, most recently in December of 2000 honoring his eighty-fifth birthday. One of only a handful of living pianists to merit an entry in The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, Mr. Wild is therein described as a pianist whose technique “is able to encompass even the most difficult virtuoso works with apparent ease.” Earl Wild was born on November 26, 1915 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. As a child Earl Wild’s parents would often play opera overtures (such as the one from Bellini’s Norma) on their Edison phonograph. At three, he would go to the family piano, reach up to the keyboard, find the exact notes, and play along in the same key. At this early age, he displayed the rare gift of absolute pitch. This and other feats labeled him as a child prodigy and led immediately to piano lessons. At six, he had a fluent technique and could read music easily. Before his twelfth birthday, he was accepted as a pupil of the famous teacher Selmar Janson, who had

– 12 – studied with Eugen d’Albert (1864-1932) and Xaver Scharwenka (1850-1924), both students of the great virtuoso pianist / composer Franz Liszt (1811-1886). The young Earl Wild was then placed into a program for artistically gifted young people at Pittsburgh’s Carnegie Tech (the Institute of Technology) -- now Carnegie Mellon University. Enrolled throughout Junior High, High School, and College, he graduat- ed from Carnegie Tech in 1937. By nineteen, he was a concert hall veteran. He was invited at the age of twelve to perform on radio station KDKA in Pittsburgh (the first radio station in the United States). As a teenager, Mr. Wild had already composed many pieces and piano transcriptions as well as arrangements for chamber orchestra that were regularly performed on the KDKA radio station. He made such an impression that he was asked to work for the station on a regular basis for the next eight years. Mr. Wild was only fourteen when he was hired to play Piano and Celeste in the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra under the batons of Otto Klemperer and Fritz Reiner. With immense hands, absolute pitch, graceful stage presence, and uncanny facility as a sight-reader and improviser, Earl Wild was well equipped for a lifelong career in music. During this early teenage period of his career, Earl Wild gave a brilliant and crit- ically well received performance of Liszt’s First Piano Concerto in E-flat with Dimitri Mitropoulos and the Minneapolis Symphony in Pittsburgh’s Syria Mosque Hall. He performed the work without the benefit of a rehearsal. In 1937, he joined the NBC network in New York City as a staff pianist. This position included not only the duties of playing solo piano and chamber recitals, but also performing in the NBC Symphony Orchestra under conductor Arturo Toscanini. In 1939, when NBC began transmitting its first commercial live musical telecasts, Mr. Wild became the first artist to perform a piano recital on U.S. television. In 1942, Toscanini added a dimension to Earl Wild’s career when he invited him to be the soloist in an NBC radio broadcast of Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue. It was the first per-

– 13 – formance of the Rhapsody for both conductor and pianist, and although Mr. Wild had not yet played any of Gershwin’s other compositions, he was immediately hailed as the major interpreter of Gershwin’s music. The youngest (and only) American piano soloist ever to perform with the NBC Symphony and Maestro Toscanini, Mr. Wild was a member of the orchestra and working for the NBC radio and television net- work from 1937 to 1944. During World War II, Mr. Wild served in the United States Navy as a musician, playing 4th flute in the Navy Band. He also performed numerous solo piano recitals at the White House for President Roosevelt and played twenty-one piano concertos with the U.S. Navy Symphony Orchestra at the Departmental Auditorium, National Gallery, and other venues in Washington, D.C. During those two years in the Navy he was frequently requested to accompany First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt to her many speaking engagements, where he performed the National Anthem as a prelude to her speeches. Earl Wild has participated in many premieres. In 1944 on NBC radio, he per- formed the Western World premiere of Shostakovich’s Piano Trio in E minor. In France, he was soloist in the world premiere performance of Paul Creston’s Piano Concerto in 1949. He gave the American premiere of the same work with the National Symphony in Washington, D.C. In December of 1970, with Sir Georg Solti and the Chicago Symphony, Mr. Wild gave the world premiere of Marvin David Levy’s Piano Concerto, a work specially written for him. Mr. Wild has had the unequaled honor of being requested to perform for six consecutive Presidents of the United States, beginning with President Herbert Hoover in 1931. In 1961 he was soloist with the National Symphony at the inaugu- ration ceremonies of President John F. Kennedy in Constitution Hall. A common element among the great pianists of the past and Earl Wild is the art of composing piano transcriptions. Mr. Wild has taken a place in history as a direct descendant of the golden age of the art of writing piano transcriptions. Called “The

– 14 – finest transcriber of our time,” Earl Wild and his piano transcriptions are widely known and respected. Over the years they have been performed and recorded by pianists worldwide. In 1986, on the occasion of the hundredth anniversary of the death of Franz Liszt, Earl Wild was awarded a Liszt Medal by the People’s Republic of Hungary in recognition of his long and devoted association with this great composer’s music. Liszt is a composer who has been closely associated with Mr. Wild throughout his long career as he has been performing Liszt recitals for over fifty years. Championing composers such as Liszt long before they were “fashionable” is part of the foundation on which Mr. Wild has built his long and successful career. In addition to pursuing his own concert and composing career, Earl Wild has actively supported young musicians all his life. He currently holds the title of Distinguished Visiting Artist at his alma mater, Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. In 1996, Carnegie Mellon honored Mr. Wild with their Alumni Merit Award and in the fall of 2000 they further honored him with their more prestigious Distinguished Achievement Award. His discography of recorded works includes more than 35 piano concertos, 26 chamber works, and over 700 solo piano pieces. Today at the age of ninety, he still continues to perform concerts and records at least one new disc per year. In 1997, he received a GRAMMY Award for his disc devoted entirely to virtu- oso piano transcriptions titled Earl Wild - The Romantic Master (an 80th Birthday Tribute). For the first official release of the newly formed IVORY CLASSICS label in 1997, Earl Wild recorded the complete Chopin Nocturnes (CD-70701), which the eminent New York Times critic Harold C. Schonberg reviewed in the American Record Guide saying, “These are the best version of the Nocturnes ever recorded.” Since its incep- tion, IVORY CLASSICS has released twenty-five newly recorded or re-released per- formances featuring Earl Wild.

– 15 – In May of 2003 the eighty-eight year-old Dean of the Piano recorded a new CD of solo piano material he had never recorded before (Mozart, Beethoven, Chopin, Balakirev, Wild) using the new limited edition Shigeru Kawai Concert Grand EX piano. For year 2005, in which Earl Wild will celebrate his ninetieth birthday, he has recorded a new CD of four new works (Bach, Scriabin, Franck and Schumann), along with live recital performances in the United States and Amsterdam. His 90th year tour culminates with an official birthday recital at Carnegie Hall in New York City on November 29, 2005. Mr. Wild is currently working on his memoirs which he hopes to publish in 2006.

Earl Wild’s compositions and transcriptions are published by Michael Rolland Davis Productions, ASCAP Available on line: www.EarlWild.com By E-mail: [email protected] • Phone: 614.761.8709

– 16 – Credit the success of this CD to Mr. Wild, a favorite of mine since I first heard a Vanguard vinyl of his (thirty years ago) called “The Demonic Liszt.” (It has been re-issued, by the way on CD.) Frankly, any CD of Mr. Wild’s is an event and well worth hearing. He begins this CD with Medtner’s elusive, twenty-six minute composition called “Second Improvisation,” Op. 47 (Mr. Wild recorded the “First Improvisation” for RCA back in the 70s.) Curious Medtner would call this an improvisation, when it’s actually a series of interwoven Rachmaninov/ Scriabinesque variations (on something he calls “The Mermaid’s Song”). Mr. Wild sustains these quirky, vacillating variations with aplomb--- and by the end makes us believers. The more one listens, the better they become. The delightfully whimsical “Sonate-Idylle,” Op. 56, again a tad Scriabin- like, is nostaligic and beautiful--- and all too short at only eleven minutes or so. What is most mesmerizing, however, is Wild’s rendition of Medtner’s “Vergessene Weisen” (“Forgotten Melodies”), Op. 39, which are five pieces alternatingly ruminative, titillating and thrilling. The opening “Meditation” is knockout gorgeous, as is No. 2, “Romance.” The last piece of the set, the “Sonata Tragica,” is frequently excerpted for solo performance, its shifting pas- sion and glowing lyricism interspersed to perfection. A fabulous piece! This CD from 1988 is exceptional. Wild has always been an incredibly fine artist, pianist and virtuoso (with a techincal prowess second to none), yet with the heart of a romantic. Strongly recommended as an excellent introduction to Medtner’s piano music... and yet another opportunity to hear Mr. Wild.

A review from Amazon.com

– 17 – EARL WILD - Living History (CD - 75002) (DDD) A remarkable testament to Earl Wild’s abilities. The tone Mr. Wild extracts from the Shigeru Kawai Concert Grand is stunning. At ninety, Earl Wild clearly shows that he has a stong foothold in the Twenty-first Century plus the elegant spirit of the great romantic masters of the past.

EARL WILD AT 30 (CD - 74003) (ADD) Live Radio Broadcasts from the 1940’s by a 30-year-old legendary virtuoso of the keyboard. Performances from New York’s NBC & ABC Studios of Scarlatti, Daquin, Mussorgsky, MacDowell, Mendelssohn, Rachmaninoff, Chopin and an absolutely staggering Liszt Piano Sonata.

EARL WILD at 88 (CD - 73005) (DDD) “At 88 Earl Wild’s fabled technique remains staggeringly intact, while his artistry continues to evolve! When you hear this disc, you'll believe in miracles. Buy it.” Jed Distler, ClassicsToday

EARL WILD - Virtuoso Piano Transcriptions 1997 GRAMMY® Award (CD - 70907) (DDD) Bach/Wild, Handel/Wild, Saint-Saëns/Wild, Chopin/Wild, Rachmaninoff/Wild, Tchaikovsky/Wild, Fauré/Wild, Mozart, J. Strauss Jr. and Earl Wild’s own Fantasy on Snow White.

– 18 – Recorded February, 1988 at Fernleaf Abbey in Columbus, Ohio

Original and Remastering Producer: Michael Rolland Davis Original and Remastering Engineer: Ed Thompson

20-bit State-of-the-Art Original recording. Remastered at 24-bit using the SADiE Artemis High Resolution digital workstation.

Recorded on a Baldwin Piano Piano Technician: Andrei Svetlichny

Liner Notes: Christopher Weiss

Front & Back Cover Photograph: © Ron Niebrugge/wildnatureimages.com Design: Samskara, Inc.

To place an order or to be included on our mailing list: Ivory Classics® • P.O. Box 341068 • Columbus, Ohio 43234-1068 Phone: 888-40-IVORY or 614-761-8709 • Fax: 614-761-9799 Email: [email protected] For convenient shopping online, please visit our website: www.IvoryClassics.com

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