István Lajkó, Vilmos Oláh & Yvette Mondok Presented by Liszt Academy

The joint concert of Yvette Mondok, István Lajkó and Vilmos Oláh serves up a careful pick from the oeuvre of Russian composer and pianist Nikolai Karlovich Medtner (1880–1951) who died seventy years ago. Three works by the post-Romantic composer, who for many years was at best mentioned merely as a contemporary of Scriabin and Rachmaninov, but who is now attracting much more interest in his own right, are performed tonight, representing the creative period of the 1910s-20s. The 1922 Sonata-Vocalise is reminiscent of the famous Rachmaninov hit in its name; although text-free, yet with its motto it evokes the title of the Goethe poem with antique tonality (Geweihter Platz) that raises the images of Olympus, gods, muses and nymphs. The other two works in the programme by the composer occasionally somewhat misleadingly called the ‘Russian Brahms’ are Sonata-Ballada for piano (1914) and the second G major violin-piano sonata, ‘Medtner’s spring sonata’, composed in exile.