Medtner - Sonata Idylle Op. 56 (Tozer, Wild)

The Sonata-Idyll in G major, Op. 56 of 1937, is Medtner's fourteenth and final piano sonata. Highly contrasting with his previous Sonata Minacciosa, a threatening, stormy and intense work, the character of the the Sonata Idylle is serene and bucolic from start to finish. Dismayed by the technical difficulty of so much of his music, which in effect precluded its sale to the majority of amateur pianists, the composer’s publisher had asked him to write some less demanding—and potentially more marketable—works. 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. It is strangely touching to think of the exiled Russian composer working on this sonata, evoking an Arcadian world, in the incongruous surroundings of the bustling North London suburb of Golders Green. Scarred by the vicissitudes of a troubled life, dispirited by the triumph of the modernism in art he so much despised and the neglect of his own work, Medtner, despite everything, never ceased composing, the faithful servant of his muse, uncompromising in his artistic integrity. To the end he remained, as Glazunov described him, ‘the firm defender of the sacred laws of eternal art’.

from notes by Barrie Martyn, Alan Kuo video on this sonata and mine.

MOVEMENT I
0:05 A section
1:35 B section, first half. The first theme is brought back in four-part harmony.
2:05 B section, second half. A haunting E minor section built around an ostinato (G-F#-A) in the left hand.
2:49 A section. Returns in the wrong key of E major, but quickly moves to tonic G major.

MOVEMENT II
EXPOSITION
4:30 THEME 1, G MAJOR. The melodic first theme is split into two phrases, each developed separately.
5:18 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.
6:01 A gentle descending cascade brings us to...
6:06 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.
6:41 T1,1 is brought back in canon, closing out the exposition.

DEVELOPMENT
7:07 Theme 1
7:23 Theme 3
7:44 Theme 1
7:51 Theme 1
7:57 Theme 3
8:10 Theme 2 alternates with Theme 3, heightening tension.
8:31 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
9:23 THEME 1, G MAJOR. Diminished note values.
9:46 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.
10:02 Transition to Theme 3, built on T1,2.
10:17 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 (10:50) into...

CODA
10:56 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.

From analysis of Alan Kuo's video of this sonata :
   • Medtner - Sonata-Idyll in G major, Op...  
Tozer :
00:05 - I. Pastorale : allegretto cantabile
04:30 - II. Allegro moderato e cantabile
Wild :
12:20 - I. Pastorale : allegretto cantabile
15:36 - II. Allegro moderato e cantabile