Hyperion Records

There is no literary clue as to what prompts the desperate anxiety of Op 9 No 1. Periodically, spiteful staccato interruptions with a rhythmically dislocated counterpoint seem more a prophetic tribute than a repudiation of his future nemesis Prokofiev. The second Skazka in this opus—alla serenata, Spanish with a Russian accent—has a restless air on account of its swaying accompaniment and displaced melodic accentuation, whereas the third, a brief pastoral idyll—Allegretto vivo, odoroso (odoroso meaning ‘fragrant’)—is explained by Medtner’s admission that he was inspired here by Goethe’s sentimental lyric Gleich und Gleich:

Ein Blumenglöckchen
Vom Boden hervor
War früh gesprosset
In lieblichem Flor;
Da kam ein Bienchen
Und naschte fein:—
Die müssen wohl beide
Für einander sein.

A little bud
with a lovely blossom
sprang early
from the ground;
along came a little bee
and sipped delicately:—
they must have been made
for each other.

from notes by Hamish Milne © 2007