Medtner - Sonata Tragica Op. 39 No. 5 (Tozer, Sudbin)

Here is it. The storm. An emotional tempest. An unstoppable flow of emotions, dramatic, tragic, intense, full of despair, that gets at point romantic and even nostalgic, going through threatening and stormy feelings, and pure beautiful joy. That is, for me, the best sonata and piece ever composed for the piano. Medtner insisted on this piece to be always preceeded by the Canzona Matinata Op. 39 No. 4.
Tozer : 00:05
Tozer (2) : 09:32
Subdin : 19:10

Structure :
EXPOSITION
00:05 : First theme, tragic and violent.
01:16 : Transition
01:28 : Second theme, romantic and nostalgic, pratically the same as the first, but in major.
02:20 : Third theme, nostalgic and sad, taken note to note from the preceding Op. 39 No. 4 "Canzona Matinata"
03:03 : Second theme again, first doubting, then getting dreamy (03:40) , then getting more and more ecstatic (03:44) , until an explosion of joy (04:17)

DEVELOPPEMENT
04:47-06:30 Menacing first, it gets more stormy and more threatening with time, until the colossal explosion of tragedy at (06:11), marked "minaccioso".

RECAPITULATION
06:30 Only the first theme appears in the recapitulation, the positive and major themes are missing, and replaced by an ominous cadenza (07:37), already containing the coda.
08:27 The coda. Ferocious, dramatic, intense and full of despair. It uses the tragic main theme, and ends into an explosion of tragedy, marked "tempestoso".

The 3 performances I choosed here are excellent, the first being my favorite piano recording of all time played by Tozer. This is his first record of this piece. Then, for the second record, it's again Tozer, but this time with his album recording, for those who may prefer it. The third record, way more delicate, but as much passionate, is by the amazing pianist Subdin, live at the Tippet Rise Art Center (original audio :    • Yevgeny Sudbin plays Medtner: Sonata ...  .