Sonata in A minor, Op 30


Date: 1914
For: Piano
Published by: Édition Russe de Musique 1917
Availability: St Petersburg Music Publishing House (2006); Dover (1922/1998)

Recordings

Nikonovich 1977 LP Melodiya C10-15859/60 CD Russian Disc RDCD10014 - nla
S Conus before 1988* CD download Jeanne d'Arc records - nla
Milne 1988 CD Brilliant Classics 9195 7cds, 8851 7cds, CRD (vol.3) CRD3460
Viardo 1990/1 CD Nonesuch 7559-79283-2
Hamelin 1998 CD Hyperion CDA67221/4
Tozer 1998 CD Chandos (vol.6) CHAN9692, CHAN9723 4cds
Kaigorodov 2009/Moscow* CD Moscow Conservatory SMC CD 0119-122 4cds
Stewart 2021 CD Grand Piano GP888


There have been at least four different editions of this work: (1) the original Édition Russe de Musique, copyrighted 1917 and engraved in Russia; (2) a 1922 edition "edited by F H Schneider" published by the reformed ERM operation headquartered in Paris, re-engraved and released under the same plate number as the Russian original; (3) the 1959 Collected Edition; (4) a 2006 edition from St.Petersburg Publishing House. The Dover edition is an exact copy of the 1922 edition except for the addition of the subtitle "During the war 1914–1917", which appears as a footnote in the 1959 edition. This is the only sonata in the Dover edition that was not taken from the 1959 edition. The editors do not give the reason; the 1922 edition is a nicer engraving but is less accurate.

The only changes in the 1922 edition from the original ERM that appear to be genuine, rather than typographical errors, are the addition of the rinforzando markings in bars 22, 24 and 25, and a few fingerings. The 1959 edition is superficially identical to the 1922 with the errors corrected.

The 2006 edition is a copy of the 1959 edition with alterations or additions in two passages. The editor's preface states that two notes made by Medtner were found when studying the first London edition of the Sonata. In the variorum below, the 2006 edition is only mentioned where it differs from the 1959 edition, in bars 10-15 and 83-91.

Op 30

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