Firma Melodiya presents one of the most precious gems from its vaults – Nikolai Medtner’s recordings.

“There is hardly another composer who takes a more solitary place in the family of Russian musicians”, wrote Medtner’s contemporary and music critic Vyacheslav Karatygin.

Medtner was born to, and grew up in, a highly intellectual family of German origin which had settled in Russia a long time before. After more than three decades of living abroad, he stayed a spiritually Russian musician until the end of his days. Medtner’s music couldn’t boast a great number of admirers, but it irrepressibly attracted deep and subtle, although very different artists, such as Rachmaninov and Myaskovsky.

Medtner’s music happily combines traditions of German and Russian culture. Along with Rachmaninov and Scriabin, Medtner was a prominent interpreter of his own works and one of those who opened a new era of Russian piano music.

According to the outstanding musician, pianist and thinker Heinrich Neuhaus, Medtner as a pianist “created himself everlasting glory… That never ceasing feeling that he was not just a wonderful pianist but also a great musician and magnificent composer, that his thought and hearing entirely guided his fingers and phenomenal virtuosity, and that it was inspired pianism was particularly enjoyable”.

The first volume of the anthology of Medtner’s recordings includes his smaller pieces – Novellas, the cycle Forgotten Melodies and the genre of piano fairy tale invented by the composer.

The recordings were made between 1930 and 1947 in Paris and London.