Nikolai Medtner’s lapidarian style is hard to pigeonhole. It masks its Slavic origins in a cosmopolitan cloak that blends the effusive, hedonistic aspects of French and Italian impressionism with Fauré’s formal rectitude, careful linear deployment, propensity for long meters, and expressive reticence. His tunes don’t hit home like Rachmaninov’s, but his busy piano textures appeal to hardy pianists with reserves of stamina. Geoffrey Tozer doesn’t quite command Marc-André Hamelin’s winged fluency and supersonic reflexes in these daunting works, but he often proves more sensitive to harmonic coloring, and caresses melodies to more flexible effect. You can’t go wrong with either pianist, but Chandos’ bargain price and first class sonics push the swing vote in Tozer’s favor.
