Like his friend and contemporary Rachmaninoff, Nikolai Medtner enjoyed a privileged and affluent upbringing, and was also exiled from Russia following the revolution in 1917. Unlike Rachmaninoff, Medtner could point to an ancestry that was part German, and his father’s passion for Germanic culture ensured that Goethe and Beethoven exerted as much influence on the young Medtner as Russian composers and writers, in particular Beethoven’s piano sonatas and string quartets. Medtner moved first to Germany, then France, before settling in London in 1935.
The earlier songs in this programme, Op. 36 and Op. 37, were written against the backdrop of the revolution, shortly before he fled Russia. Op. 45 and Op. 46 (written to Russian and German texts, respectively) were composed in France. © Chandos