MEDTNER: Complete Works for Violin and Piano, Vol. 1 (Jason O' Connell/ Laurence Kayaleh/ Paul Stewart) (Naxos: 8.570298)

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If the piano works of Nikolay Medtner are finally achieving the recognition they merit, the same cannot yet be said for his compositions for violin and piano. This, the first of two discs presenting Medtner's five violin and piano works, opens with his last and greatest work for these instruments, 'Sonata No. 3, 'Epica'', completed in 1938. Unashamedly Romantic and distinctly Russian with its frequent allusions to folk-dances and Orthodox liturgical chants, the 'Sonata' reflects both Medtner's recent conversion to the Orthodox faith and his bitter acceptance of permanent exile from his homeland. This bleak and mournful work includes an 'Andante' of heartbreaking beauty. The sombre yet impassioned 'Three Nocturnes' were inspired by Goethe, one of the composer's favourite poets.