Medtner - Meditazione, Op 39/1 (Tozer)

Medtner composed the Forgotten Melodies II (Op. 39) in between 1919-1921, before he left Bolshevik Russia for Berlin. The cycle consists of five pieces (Meditazione, Romanza, Primavera, Canzona Matinata, Sonata Tragica). The outer pairs of the cycle are thematically linked, while the Primavera stands alone in the center.
The Op. 39 1, Meditazione in C# minor, starts with a dark and mysterious introduction, in which a three-note motif rises from the bass and ends in a flurry of notes. This motif is repeated three times (00:00, 00:14, 00:50), each time leading into in a more agitated cadenza.
After the introduciton, we hear the main theme, marked "Meditamente" - a lost, quite Lisztian melody. The theme is stated four times (01:13, 01:34, 02:12, 02:34) with increasing torment, like obsessing over a worrying, festering thought. Then follows a wandering sequence (02:50), which leads to a disquieted trill (03:28). The main theme begins again, this time resulting in the climax of the piece, a pathos-laden declamation (04:00). Near the end, the theme is preemptively interrupted (04:37), as if the music is trying to gew away from it. This leads to a fantastic and surprising resolution in C# major (04:47): The tormenting thought is abandoned, and there is piece of mind for now - until the following Romanza Op. 39/2.

Full Op. 39 Playlist:    • Medtner - Meditazione, Op 39/1 (Tozer)