Nikolai Medtner: Music, Aesthetics, and Contexts ed. by Wendelin Bitzan and Christoph Flamm (review)

Abstract

and the two families were estranged. With the approach of World War II, the Rachmaninoffs removed from Europe to America, while the Conius family remained in France. This means, of course, that any relations between the composer–pianist grandfather and his grandson were limited to the first six years of the grandson’s life. The many pages of text, a full chapter and an appendix, offer much anecdotal speculation but no hard evidence about the existence of Elena Dahl, a feature of the book that to this reader weakens the strong content of much of the rest of it. In spite of these and some other reservations about Nollan’s approach, her “thorough investigation into the personal side of the composer’s identity, and how it connects with the matrix of his compositions and attitudes to the world around him” (p. 4) is a qualified success. She accomplishes this goal, providing new insights into the soul of the composer. The book is an essential, approachable resource providing much that is useful and new to anyone seeking to know more deeply Rachmaninoff’s life and character.