Medtner - Sonata Op. 25 No. 2 "Night Wind" (Eckardstein)

[@SeigneurReefShark]

00:00​ - I. Introduzione: Andante con moto 02:37​ - II. Allegro 15:33​ - III. Tempo dell'introduzione 18:20​ - IV. Allegro molto sfrenatamente, presto 26:32​ - V. Quasi cadenza This performance was for me a revelation. As much as i love other performances of this work, especially Milne and Ponochevny, i think that this one is superior in many ways. First of all : the incredible atmoshpere. Eckardstein can both play extremely violently (not "bangy" though) or so very softly and suddenly go for a total contrast in nuance, while doing the transition very well. Medtner intended this piece to be "always played in an epic spirit". Well here I never listened to such an epic performance. He has a way of playing this sonata, that at the first measures already you know how great its going to be. He mixes the dark, eerie and menacing and solemn side of Tozer with the vigor and energy of Kholodenko and the subtlety of Milne, while keeping the flow of the piece the whole time, while never showing a single mark of tiring. And this result in an impetuous, unbashed, unstoppable wind, a true Night Wind.

[@ArthratraxIndebted-58]

I agree that the performance is good but I find the piano tone very harsh. Could be the lousy U-tube bitrate of 128kbps which is scarcely more than speech quality.

[@central9823]

13:55 この世で最も完成された芸術作品の一つ この曲に出会えたというだけで生まれてきた甲斐があったと思える。

[@PieInTheSky9]

Hard to believe someone wrote this really. The counterpoint and textual sophistication is rather stunning. The playing is remarkable, properly tempestuous without blurring the harmonies with careful attention towards bringing out the melody & countermelodies (which can easily be lost in the sea of notes).

[@Whatismusic123]

He just throws random chords and rhythmns around. Not even his melodies have any form of structure... pathetic.

[@gabrieltelemaqueninin7626]

@@Whatismusic123 random. . .

[@tedpiano]

I'm at Juilliard for piano. Someone was practicing this next door to me tonight and that part around 29:03 was one of the most wicked, grotesque, and insane things I've ever heard coming through those walls lol

[@ConcordMass]

lucky

[@stephanjwilliams]

It's good to know that Medtner is becoming more popular. I just hope that that student continues to learn Medtner's music, and promotes it in his/her career as a musician.

[@tedpiano]

​​​​​​​​​@@stephanjwilliams Well they certainly had an impact on me, I'm learning Medtner's Concerto No. 2 now. I can think of a few friends who have played his music while I've been here, both little encores up to the sonatas and concertos... seems like an unlikely combo but I wouldn't put it past Gen-Z piano virtuosos to bring Medtner back lol

[@stephanjwilliams]

@@tedpiano That's amazing! The second concerto is essentially a perfect Romantic piano concerto. The Concerto-Ballad is my favorite, though, because of the sublime heights it reaches through its contemplative atmosphere. I'm not even a music student, but I'm considering pursuing piano after getting my degree in philosophy. Medtner's Night Wind and Beethoven's Op. 109 sonatas are my dream pieces for a potential senior recital. Good luck with the second concerto!

[@christopherczajasager9030]

Have you ever heard opus 11 nr.3 of Schoenberg ? I played it when studying at Juilliard many years ago. I was naive to play it for my teacher Rosina Lhévinne who asked..." Why did you bring this piece of hatred and ugliness?"......

[@globalc3849]

Amazing and unreal performance. This piece is a miracle.

[@marcellomarianetti1770]

I don't love other Medtner works much, but THIS ONE is above everything! 30 minutes of the same bunch of themes, rearranged, split, torn apart, and I never get bored, then the alternation of the furious, windy moments with the meditative, calm (before the storm) sections, it's a gorgeous Sonata. This performance is the cherry on top, the voicing is sublime, very powerful sound, but NOT (thank God) rushed like Kholodenko's one. I had never heard of Eckardstein before, but he sounds incredibly amazing.

[@steveegallo3384]

Yes.....and how Rakhmaninov must've adored this Colossus......BRAVO from Acapulco!

[@iianneill6013]

The performance of a lifetime ...

[@erwinschulhoff4464]

BRO THIS GOES SO HARDDD

[@KenBreadbox]

Reminiscenza will always be my favourite for sheer melody, but this is stunning, and by far the best performance I have heard. Eckardstein decrypts Medtner so well.

[@이제훈-g2l]

Similar to Marcel Proust "In search of lost time" - Difficult to approach, but you will see another great world once you get into it.

[@golfer5990]

Great sonata. Medtner is one of my favorite composers. The Sonata Triad is probably my favorite but I like them all.

[@archiesarna-howard460]

The second theme of the first movement is BEAUTFUL

[@NothingFunnyAboutTheseCarpets]

AMAZING PERFORMANCE! Never heard of this incredible pianist before! So intelligent and thoughtful. He understands what he’s playing and it shows

[@truekingvictory]

How have I not heard of Eckardstein until now?? That was a performance of a lifetime! Thanks for posting, ReefShark.

[@markos3940]

cant stop listening this masterpiece

[@archiesarna-howard460]

24:40 crazy but so cool and so modern

[@LukeZX4]

YES! Thank you so much for uploading this. Eckardstein's approach is insurmountably epic and violent (with all the beautiful moments gorgeously shining through), incredibly voiced, sharply articulated, and altogether incredibly constructed. This sonata was never comprehensible to me until I came across this version. The truly definitive recording.

[@Dylonely_9274]

Masterpiece of music.

[@teodorb.p.composer]

I am speechless, this is just too superb and astonishing!

[@sebastiantorres2542]

I just started listening and loving it. Some of the voice shading here is phenomenal. Thanks for sharing obscure but yet amazing recordings such as this one, discovering new approaches to these pieces is what keeps music exciting.

[@unnamed_boi]

i can't get enough of 14:39 help

[@zerois2801]

mind blowing

[@martinsz441]

Yes and all following up to 15:30 is just unbelievable. So good.

[@teodorb.p.composer]

that's is problem of all of us

[@AnAppleSlice]

And the _Molto giocondamente_ part that follows is so giddying, but all of the ecstasy then suddenly comes crashing down by the abrupt shift to F minor, where the opening motif soon reappears and anticipates the recap of the introductory theme.

[@ilikeplayingffftonecluster851]

... HOLY SHIT

[@qalaphyll]

yes

[@ericastier1646]

Your expletive is no exaggeration.

[@Alkanissimo]

I agree. Eckardstein is a true Medtner champion, by far my favourite night wind!

[@steveegallo3384]

@@themobiusfunction -- A Colossus! Cheers from Acapulco!

[@r.i.p.volodya]

I enjoyed this performance very much - so much interesting content.

[@csdrew22]

4:54 - the G on the third beat of this motif has such an ethereal quality to it. This is such a beautiful chord voicing

[@aken215]

I agree with you, it's probably the best performance of this sonata. I finally understand this piece much more. Also, I love how he creates a counterpoint at 1:11, as a sort of an response to the preceding melody.

[@ericastier1646]

I am lucky that this is the first performance of this piece i hear then.

[@ericastier1646]

Wow there is so much going on, that after four listening i am starting to hear how the first movement sounds like two beautiful piano at the same time.

[@Luca-yg5qx]

Whoa this is so good

[@MegaCirse]

Like the first light of dawn, this music opens your eyes to new promises and to all the wonders of nature. Evocative of powers beyond observation, these pieces pull the strings of the heart, attract nostalgia and awaken the loves, the skinned lives and torpor of tormented watchmen

[@PSHEYACOOL]

👏👏👏 Monster Sonata! In the sense that not every virtuoso will dare to play it! Huge, through polyphonic, full of rhythmic tricks, and even very virtuoso! I think that it is even more difficult than Rachmaninov's sonatas.

[@duqueadriano0081]

not harder than the original version of the second one

[@PSHEYACOOL]

@@duqueadriano0081 I agree.

[@ucj5421]

​@@duqueadriano0081どっちも弾いたけどNight Windの方がはるかに難しいよ

[@Jamesphilipjfry]

@@duqueadriano0081 the 1st sonata is still harder

[@ArthratraxIndebted-58]

If you want to experience the true night wind, then have a late dinner consisting of sauerkraut, frankfurters, maybe a pickled egg, and a couple of Pilsener Urquell beers.

[@GB_99999]

3:49 6:37 11:24 13:55 19:54 24:29 30:42

[@Latinosmassacre-]

28:41

[@earthwater9964]

...just nuts... crazy... most unusual I've ever heard... wow

[@markos3940]

21:28

[@yagiz885]

15:03 wow

[@sama.4471]

Is this the MD&G studio recording? I find myself always completely floored by Eckardstein's Medtner, he just knows exactly how to pull off these difficult pieces for maximum effect - his live Sonata Ballade and Op. 30 as well

[@SeigneurReefShark]

I believe the recording is made by K&K Verlagsanstalt

[@severinvoneckardstein5900]

live from Duisburg Mercatorhalle, 2012

[@csdrew22]

23:53 is there a missing measure here?

[@GICM]

7:18

[@norixsynth]

I wanna upload this but no midi sad

[@lucaslorentz]

Make one

[@norixsynth]

@@lucaslorentz how sad that I can't make midis at all like Liszthesis themselves :(

[@XPKpianist]

Learn to play the piano, practice 10 hours a day for 10 years and you can record it.

[@GANIN-wn9dk]

I know this is 2 year late but someone did it, some guy uploaded a snyhtesia vid of night wind!!

[@thierryranger2230]

Wow!! That was incredible, amazing playing. What do you think of Hamelin's version? Also Vos has pretty interesting moments and choices he makes also. They've all got a little something special or different to say which is what's so great about interpretation of a piece :)

[@pianista-mediocre]

Hamelin has the second best version. The one in this video is the best

[@FoziCoD]

29:04-29:14 theses bass

[@frosti6669]

OMG

[@j.s.42822]

30:12 Sonata Minacciosa?

[@lucaslorentz]

After eckardstein played it no one learned night wind ...

[@SeigneurReefShark]

What do you mean?

[@lucaslorentz]

@@SeigneurReefShark cuz the interpretation is so perfect that nobody would try to overcome it

[@mcig98]

25:15

[@markos3940]

29:34

[@frosti6669]

Sorry, too late :(

[@connorrichardson368]

section at 25:10 is way too good...

[@patriziavenucci1469]

Non plus ultra

[@SeigneurReefShark]

What do you mean?

[@patriziavenucci1469]

That it couldn't be played any better. The best of the best!!!

[@W0lfman0]

Medtner could go on for days if he wanted to.

[@SeigneurReefShark]

And that would be awesome

[@ericastier1646]

This places higher than many of Rachmnaninov compositions and for sure on equal footing. I am surprised there is so little interest in Medtner given how much reverence R. gets.

[@forta7353]

Agree, controversial take but Medtner imo is a better writer for solo piano than Rach.

[@ericastier1646]

@@forta7353 Yes, that said both had their compositional weaknesses, contemporaries they had a lot of respect for each other. I think R. often looses clarity of musical intent in his compositions from excessive patterns and very busy hot fingers all over the keyboard like a bee hive. It looks impressive but makes music almost like a noisy buzz. Also he dilutes themes too much making them very viscous like large puddles of oil. Boring would be a wrong word. Medtner uses to many repeated percussive intervals accompaniement making it sound like shaking a can with nails. Too many notes, it can lead to headache for the listener. But it was the style of the era.

[@forta7353]

@@ericastier1646 I agree. Rach was a brilliant composer for both solo piano and orchestra but his musical ideas went deeper in his orchestral works. I disagree with your Medtner take a bit but respect it. His repetitive patterns are always fresh and never out of place imo, but I dont rly understand what ”repetitive interval percussion accompaniment” means😀.To me Medtner is the true russian Chopin.

[@ericastier1646]

@@forta7353 It's hard to put in words, Medtner music lacks balance in form not content, such as this piece starts beautifully then we are treated to what sounds like an unending coda with no respite, no lullaby, no rest. Bars take half a page width wide for tens of pages, that is way too many notes for too long. There is not a double note in sight and the 5/4 signature makes this even more overloaded. When Chopin did that it would be between sections of cantabile melodic passages with longer notes. It's as if medtner tries to write as many notes as possible *all the time* . Yet this sonata is still beautiful but it does not breathe and lacks milestones. It's quite tough on the listener even when you like it, it's still tiring to listen.

[@CziffraTheThird]

Isn't this supposed to be called Winter Wind?

[@SeigneurReefShark]

What ??

[@unnamed_boi]

no

[@alexs1504]

No, it's way better

[@GICM]

no its supposed to be called epic wind

[@joshvigranmusic]

No the Winter Wind is Chopin's etude in A minor, Op. 25 No. 11

[@Dichweed]

29:33 wrong

[@newaccounter]

Night burger. Midnight burgerr…

[@Tuxster3]

The piece says a lot, yet says nothing. Unfortunately, at this point, I'm not a fan of this particular Medtner sonata. I will give it another listen to sometime in the near future.

[@forta7353]

If you’re looking for substance in it you won’t find it. Turn off your mind and just listen. Music like this isn’t homework.

[@Whatismusic123]

Random sludge of notes.

[@DynastieArtistique]

What you meant to say was “what a bunch of notes my underdeveloped musical mind can’t understand”

[@lucasdanconia]

@@DynastieArtistiquewhat mind?

[@DynastieArtistique]

@@lucasdanconia hahahahaha

[@luna_zhang]

wim jumpscare

[@Xyriak]

15:02

[@Xyriak]

28:44

[@Xyriak]

4:42

[@Xyriak]

11:31

[@Xyriak]

24:39

[@Xyriak]

24:40

[@markos3940]

28:40

[@duqueadriano0081]

10:22

[@ConcordMass]

3:32

[@Alkadondon]

14:39

[@Alkadondon]

20:48

[@Dylonely_9274]

29:00

[@Dylonely_9274]

28:55

[@KaikhosruShapurjiMedtner]

I see you on Mahler videos

[@FoziCoD]

28:54

[@calebhu6383]

28:44