The Complete Piano Sonatas, Series II: Piano Book

These seven sonatas represent Medtner's final statement as a composer, and they reward serious study in ways that casual listening cannot reveal. The formal integrity across this collection gives advanced pianists a sustained encounter with a master craftsman who never compromised intellectual rigor for easy effect. Programming any of these works signals a real commitment to twentieth-century repertoire that thinks backward as much as forward.

These sonatas breathe with the introspection of late-career work. They move between moments of crystalline clarity and passages of emotional turbulence, often within the same movement. The musical world Medtner creates is simultaneously backward-gazing and urgent, nostalgic without sentimentality, formal without frigidity.

This collection is for advanced pianists with strong command of twentieth-century music and the technical security to navigate Medtner's contrapuntal and harmonic complexity. It appeals to those drawn to repertoire that balances tradition with innovation, and to performers seeking alternatives to the modernist mainstream.

• Approach the harmonic language with patience. Medtner's chromaticism and voice-leading create density that sounds muddy if you rush; let each chord live before moving to the next.
• Shape long melodic lines through subtle dynamic gradation rather than obvious phrasing breaks. These sonatas demand the pianist act as both architect and singer.
• Study the three bonus melodies first. They offer condensed versions of Medtner's lyrical voice and can serve as gateways into the larger sonata forms.
• In the more dramatic works (Sonata tragica, Sonata minacciosa), resist the urge to overstate the emotional content. Medtner's restraint is part of his power.

A single sonata from this collection works well in a recital devoted to Russian twentieth-century piano music, paired with Scriabin or Stravinsky's Three Movements from Petrushka. Alternatively, program the Sonate-Idylle as a closing work where its lyrical withdrawal feels earned after more extroverted repertoire.

• Reading advanced chromatic harmony and voice-leading
• Sustaining architectural coherence across extended single-movement forms
• Balancing contrapuntal complexity with singing tone
• Interpreting written expression marks in Russian notation (including lesser-known performance directions)
• Building stamina and musical focus through multi-movement sonata cycles