🇷🇺Nikolai Karlovich Medtner ： Three Hymns to the Toil To the Anvil Op.49-2

The second piece from Medtner’s Three Hymns to the Toil, this miniature makes a strong impression with its sense of percussive force and tense forward motion, well suited to the image of the anvil suggested by its title. Weighty chords and movement in the bass provide a foundation, while recurring rhythms drive the music onward. The piece can be heard as one concentrated span, with changes in dynamics and register continually shifting its momentum. In performance, it is important not only to balance the weight of each note, but also to maintain rhythmic propulsion and keep the inner voices of the chords clear. Rather than relying on sheer force, bring out the direction of the phrases and changes in tension within the hard-edged sonority to reveal the work’s strength.