The Forgotten Melodies of Nikolai Medtner and the Études-Tableaux of Sergei Rachmaninoff were conceived at the beginning of the 20th century. Several selections from these remarkable sets, such as Medtner’s Sonata-Reminiscenza and Rachmaninoff’s fifth Étude-Tableau, have become landmarks of piano literature in their own right. Nevertheless, the further one absorbs this music, the more difficult it becomes to isolate a given piece. The collections begin to emerge as unified wholes and, despite their internal contrasts, possess a coherent dramaturgy and rhythmic reference point. There is a harmonic anchor: the foundational pillar of the key of A, the core acoustic axis upon which this particular program rotates.

To dwell upon the total social and political eclipse—the sheer violence of the historical abyss occurring at the time and place of composition—would be to invite a certain fatalism, and with it, the inevitable tropes of sorrow and nostalgia for a world shattered. In War and Peace, Tolstoy writes: 'Fatalism in history is inevitable for explaining irrational phenomena ... the more we try to rationally explain these phenomena in history, the more irrational and incomprehensible they become to us.' Tolstoy wrote this about the beginning of the 19th century; I reiterate these words at the beginning of the 21st. I do not wish to link this music to a specific time and place …

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Recorded for Evil Penguin Classic

Recording, Mixing, & Mastering - Steven Maes, MotorMusic

Musical Director & Editing - Felicia Bockstael

Assistant Engineer - Tijs Wylin

Photography - Koen Broos

Design - Lucia Ghielmi

Recorded at Het Predikheren, Mechelen, Belgium