Arabesques, Dithyrambs, Elegies and other short piano works : Hamish Milne (2CD)

Medtner: Arabesques, Dithyrambs, Elegies
and other short piano works

Stimmungsbilder, Op. 1
Three Improvisations, Op. 2
Four Morceaux, Op. 4
Three Arabesques, Op. 7
Three Dithyramben, Op. 10
Three Novelles, Op. 17
Four Lyric Fragments, Op. 23
Etude in C minor
Morceaux, Op. 31
Three Hymns in Praise of Toil, Op. 49
Theme and Variations, Op. 55
Two Elegies, Op. 59

Hamish Milne, piano

Recording details: 09/2010 - 03/2011, Henry Wood Hall, London, United Kingdom
Produced by Jeremy Hayes
Engineered by Ben Connellan

‘Write one such piece and one can die.’ So pronounced Rachmaninov, no less, after hearing the second of Medtner’s Arabesques. This is just one of the delights in the enticing selection box offered by Hamish Milne, a long-standing and ardent champion of Medtner’s music. These two discs explore the many miniatures?in size though not in ambition?that he wrote throughout his life. The very opening of his Mood Pictures shows a remarkable sophistication for a man barely out of his teens, while the magnificent pair of Elegies forms a fitting conclusion to a set that reminds us that it is sometimes among the ‘miscellaneous’ works that the greatest gems are to be found. ( Hyperion )