Telling Tales: The Use of Byron Almén’s Musical Narrative Theory as a Filter for a Performance of Nikolai Medtner’s Sonata-Skazka Op.25 No.1 (1910)

My project overlays Byron Almén’s narrative interpretation to Russian composer Nikolai Medtner’s Sonata-Skazka Op.25 No.1 (1910), in response to the discursive implications explicated in its reference to skazka (tale). I question how this piece of non-programmatic music can be interpreted as a discourse. The principal aim of my research is to translate my analytical observations to instil a sense of drama in my performance. In doing so, I facilitate a focused and supported interpretation of Sonata-Skazka that enables a way to penetrate its complex compositional style. I likewise establish a connection between score analyses and performance in a narrative context.