Medtner: Selected Skazki [Tales] (Bekhterev, Arimori)

Medtner’s Skazki are some of his most gorgeous and alluring pieces; they’re an excellent way to start getting into Medtner, which as most people discover unfortunately can be rather difficult. They feature almost all the trademarks of Medtner’s style: textural inventiveness, harmonic depth, a constant sense of the enigmatic, and, even if they’re not quite as rhythmically tricky as Medtner’s other works, a lot of rhythmic variation nonetheless. (If you listen carefully you might also recognise some ideas als