Medtner - Piano Concerto 1 Analysis (Zhukov)

Medtner composed his majestic piano concerto in C minor (Op. 33) during World War 1. He finished the piano score in a year and spent two additional years orchestrating the work, as Medtner hated writing for orchestra. This video features a thematic breakdown of the music. The structure of the piece is a highliy original example of double function form:

00:00 EXPOSITION (functioning as 1st movement)
Motives & Themes: X, Y, A, A2, A3, B1, B2, AB

09:05 DEVELOPMENT (functioning as slow movement and schezo)
Interludium (09:05), 5 Variations (11:57), Retransition (21:27)

24:22 RECAPITULATION (functioning as finale together with coda)
26:42 CODA

I based this video on the following publication by A. Sarest, which offers great further reading:
https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_etd...

I chose not to highlight thematic material that only occurs in the orchestral piano reduction and not in the full piece (such as Motive Y from 00:09 onwards). Also, Medtner's music is so complex that I may have missed some occurences of disguised themes - so please point them out if you find any!

This performance by Zhukov is by far my favorite, although musical transparency is sometimes traded in for a more grandiose sound. For example, Motive X, played by the bassoon, is mostly inaudible from 24:32 onwards. Nevertheless, the sheer energy in this recording makes up for it.
This video took me ages, so please give a like if you would like more such videos!

Performance: Igor Zhukov & USSR Large Radio-Television Smphony Orchestra)