The Medtner Sonata Skazka (Sonata Tales) is a beautiful sonata, a magical journey that perfeclty fits its name. It contains 3 movements :

I. Allegro abbandonamente : 00:05
II. Andantino con moto : 04:56
III. Allegro con spirito : 08:19

The first movement starts by a mystical and pratically other-worldly theme. From the start, both hands are alternating into a question/answer motif, which is perfect, because it sounds like a story, a tale, melancholic and contemplative, which accelerate and get more anxious (00:42), then introduce a tale-like melancholic theme (01:10). It suddenly gets happier (01:26). Getting back to the more anxious motif at (01:36), it then escalate and escalate, it explodes (01:55), and suddenly, at (01:59), a new motif appears, made of really fast repeated notes, going through syncopated rythms and getting faster and faster, until the return of the first theme at (02:33). Then all of that is repeated, until an explosion of a joyful-mad feeling (04:03).The tale-like melancholic theme of (01:10) is then used back at (04:17) with the motif of (01:26), mixed together in a beautiful result. Then, a triomphant and glorious motif appears at the end, concluding the 1st movement.
The second movement opens with a relaxing and calm theme, really contrasted to the fast, anxious and sometimes triomphant feelings of the 1st movement. It gets darker at (05:28), with mixed happy and mysterious feelings. The part at (06:27) is more triomphant and a little glorious, with joyful feelings at the same time. At (06:57) the mysterious ambiance comes back, and suddenly morph into a coming storm at (07:04) which intensifies (07:07) and resolve at (07:20), showing the calm after the tempest. Though, at (07:51) the menacing ambiance comes back, escalating and escalating until the final blown up (08:07) that ends the second movements, and introduce the 3rd.
The third movement is, again, a completely different story, a new chapter to that wonderful tale.It starts brutally, abruptely and march-like, motif that looks like the incoming sonata Op. 30 in A minor. Some beautiful and passioned arpeggios starts at (09:07), a flow of beauty and again a motif that will be used back in his Sonata Op. 30. The march and arpeggios repeats until the Andantino con moto at (10:10). This part, calmer and resigned, graduatlly increase until (10:45) where the march motif restarts and explodes at (10:53). Then, even if the march motif starts back, the themes of the 1st movement are reused (11:09) and even more clearly at (11:18), where the theme and motif of the 1st movement is reused and adapted into a more dance-like move. At (11:30) the theme of 1st movement is used in a more nostalgic way, calm and sad. Suddenly at (11:49), it gets faster, faster, repeat and a beautiful and mysterious arpeggio comes. A little reminescence of the march like motif (12:01), and a fast and dry arpeggio marked pianissimo concludes that masterpiece.