Medtner: Incantation, Complete Songs, Vol. 1 Ekaterina Levental & Frank Peters

• Nikolai Medtner (1880 - 1951): 3 Romances, Op. 3:
• 1 3 Romances, Op. 3: I. At the Gates of the Holy Cloister 03:05
• 2 3 Romances, Op. 3: II. I've Lived to See Desire Vanish 01:59
• 3 3 Romances, Op. 3: On the Lake 02:27
• 2 Poems, Op. 13:
• 4 2 Poems, Op. 13: I. Winter Evening 03:20
• 5 2 Poems, Op. 13: II. Epitaph 02:47
• 8 Poems, Op. 24:
• 6 8 Poems, Op. 24: I. Day and Night 02:36
• 7 8 Poems, Op. 24: II. Willow, Why do You Lower 01:30
• 8 8 Poems, Op. 24: III. The Wave and the Thought 01:52
• 9 8 Poems, Op. 24: IV. Twilight 03:34
• 10 8 Poems, Op. 24: V. I am dumbstruck 02:46
• 11 8 Poems, Op. 24: VI. Should a Smile Gently Brighten Your Face 02:30
• 12 8 Poems, Op. 24: VII. Tender Whisper, Timid Breathing 01:52
• 13 8 Poems, Op. 24: VIII. I Have Come to You, Delighted 01:56
• 7 Poems, Op. 28:
• 14 7 Poems, Op. 28: I. Unexpected Rain 02:50
• 15 7 Poems, Op. 28: II. I Can't Listen to This Birdsong 02:00
• 16 7 Poems, Op. 28: III. Butterfly 01:18
• 17 7 Poems, Op. 28: IV. Heavy, Dark and Faded 03:47
• 18 7 Poems, Op. 28: V. Peace in Springtime 02:00
• 19 7 Poems, Op. 28: VI. I Sit Deep in Thought and Alone 05:39
• 20 7 Poems, Op. 28: VII. Lord, Send Your Comfort 03:09
• 7 Poems after Pushkin, Op. 29:
• 21 7 Poems after Pushkin, Op. 29: I. Muse 03:16
• 22 7 Poems after Pushkin, Op. 29: II. The Singer 03:11
• 23 7 Poems after Pushkin, Op. 29: III. Night Piece 02:47
• 24 7 Poems after Pushkin, Op. 29: IV. The Horse 02:25
• 25 7 Poems after Pushkin, Op. 29: V. Elegy 02:06
• 26 7 Poems after Pushkin, Op. 29: VI. The Rose 02:04
• 27 7 Poems after Pushkin, Op. 29: VII. Incantation 03:33
• Total Runtime 01:12:19

Info for Medtner: Incantation, Complete Songs, Vol. 1

Medtner’s legacy for solo piano is now widely esteemed alongside Rachmaninov and other giants of the Russian ‘silver age’: melodists to their core, romantics at heart, yet rigorous craftsmen to their fingertips, who took their muse seriously and refined their inspiration to distil a peculiarly Russian spirit of melancholy in sound.

However, around a third of Medtner’s output, measured by opus numbers, was dedicated to voices, and this section of his music has received much less attention. Ekaterina Levental has dedicated herself to correcting this imbalance. The Uzbek-born, Dutch-resident mezzo-soprano has given all of Medtner’s songs in concert with the pianist Frank Peters; together, they now embark on a recorded cycle.

Medtner lacked nothing for self-sacrificing dedication to his art, and he chose to set the finest poets of his Russian homeland: Pushkin, Fet, Lermontov and others, and then Goethe and Eichendorff in German. Unlike Rachmaninov he continued to write songs even after emigrating and settling in London.

‘Medtner's musical vocabulary is very rich and expressive,’ Levental and Peters explain in their own booklet note, which is printed together with English translations of the lyrics. ‘Some songs immediately captivate you, others require a certain effort from the listener. Anyone who takes up the challenge, makes a discovery. Every song is a treasure and an intimate, spiritual confession from the composer to his listener.’

In the category of ‘immediate appeal’ surely fall the two songs of Op.13: the ardent vocal response to Pushkin’s Winter Evening perfectly underscored by the stormy piano part. No less unmistakably Russian in expression is the complementary Epitaph, triumphant even in its mournfulness and like many other of the songs here not as stern as much of Medtner’s piano music. Any listener looking for the composer’s personal voice, behind the virtuoso keyboard fireworks, should start here.

Ekaterina Levental, mezzo soprano
Frank Peters, piano

Ekaterina Levental
was born in Tashkent, the capital city of Uzbekistan, one of the republics of the former Soviet Union. Ekaterina moved to Holland in 1993 where she continued her studies on the harp at the Conservatories in Enschede, Rotterdam and Detmold (Germany) with teachers Alex Bonnet, Godelieve Schrama and Catherine Michel. Due to a scholarship granted her by the Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds and the Fonds voor Podium- en Amateurkunsten she continued her studies with Germaine Lorenzini in Lyon (France). After graduating for her harp studies she followed her passion for singing and started a new study Classical Singing at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague. Ekaterina finished both studies Cum Laude. She studied singing with Rita Dams, Meinard Kraak, Barbara Pearson and Diane Forlano and followed workshops and master classes with Nelly Miricioiu, Jean Piland, Charlotte Margiono, Christoph Prégardien, Jard van Nes, Jean Philippe Lafont and Leontina Vaduva.

At this moment Ekaterina makes a career as an opera singer and theater performer. She worked as a soloist with companies as De Nationale Opera, Jan Fabre/Troubleyn (Belgium), LOD Gent (Belgium), Toneelhuis Antwerpen (Belgium), Muziektheater Hollands Diep Dordrecht, Opera Trionfo, Veenfabriek Leiden, Opera Spanga, Opera Nijetrijne, Holland Opera, Silbersee, LeineRoebana, Opera de Calais, Diamantfabriek and others.

Together with the harpist Eva Tebbe Ekaterina forms a successful duo called “Duo Bilitis”. The duo is the winner of several international prizes, performed during numerous chamber music series and music festivals in Holland and abroad and released their CD’s at the label Brilliant Classics/Foreign Media. A new CD ‘Rêveries de Bilitis’ based on work by Claude Debussy is released with big success in 2018.

Together with Chris Koolmees Ekaterina forms LEKS Compagnie and develops music theater projects as Pierrot Lunaire 2.0, La Voix Humaine FaceTime and the autobiographical trilogy The Path (De Weg) – The Border (De Grens) – Pique Dame (Schoppenvrouw).

Her recent engagements were amongst others the main role in the Opera Turan Dokht at Holland Festival (World Opera LAB), the role of Goneril in de the opera King Lear (Holland Opera) and the role of ‘Die Frau’ in the Opera ‘Menuet’ (LOD Gent).

Booklet for Medtner: Incantation, Complete Songs, Vol. 1