The Forgotten Romantic

"Wonderful playing ... listening to this CD makes it very clear that it is time to put this composer back onto the 'must be played' list" David Porcelijn

Our fourth CD - one of two produced in 2008 - is now complete and in stock.

This exciting project is unique in several ways. Firstly, we decided to record some of the piano works of Sergei Bortkiewicz - a composer unfamiliar to many. Bortkiewicz was born in Kharkov (Ukraine) in 1877 and had by any criterion a fascinating life. Living through the Russian Revolution and both World Wars, he spent much of his time uprooted, wandering and often in poverty. Yet during this time he was able, nonetheless, to compose some magnificent works, including three piano concertos, several symphonic and orchestral works and many pieces of varying length for the piano - his own instrument. Full of melody and always romantic and tonal, it is only  recently that some of his output has been revived - and much is still lost. Bortkiewicz died in Vienna in 1952.

Secondly, we were fortunate in obtaining permission from the Bath museum to record the music on the famous "Rachmaninov Piano" - the Steinway Grand that Rachmaninov chose and used for his performances when he toured the UK, which is temporarily housed in the Wiltshire Music Centre at Bradford on Avon. As the two composers were almost exact contemporaries, and given the similarities in romantic style, this is the sort of instrument with which Bortkiwicz would have himself been familiar and it is indeed fitting that it should be used for this music.

Thirdly, we obtained the services of a young viurtuoso pianist for the recording. Lloyd Buck is from Bristol in England and completed his Conservatoire studies at the Royal College of Music in 2006. he is now on a postgraduate course at the RNCM in Manchester.  Lloyd has specialised in the works of Alkan - with all the formidable technique that this music requires - and yet is possessed of a wonderful ability to play romantic music with great depth of feeling. We were confident that he would be able to do full justice to the works of Bortkiewicz and are delighted and privileged to have been able to offer him his debut recording.

Track Listing:

Lamentations and Consolations, Op 17

Track                     

1                              Lamentation 1                            Recitativo dolente – andantino

2                              Consolation 1                            Tranquillo e pensieroso

3                              Lamentation 2                            Allegro non tanto

4                              Consolation 2                            Sostenuto e pensieroso – andante

5                              Lamentation 3 « Le mal du pays »     Andante

6                              Consolation 3                             Cantabile

7                              Lamentation 4                             Moderato

8                              Consolation 4 « Sorrento »      Andante

Lyrica Nova, Op 59

9                              Con moto - affetuoso

10                            Andantino

11                            Andantino

12                            Con slancio

Preludes, Op 66  Nos 1 & 3  (No 2 lost)

13                            Prelude No 1                                   Andante

14                            Prelude No 3                                   Moderato e cantabile

Sonata No 2, Op 60 (recorded live in concert)

15                            Allegro ma non troppo

16                            Allegretto

17                            Andante misericordioso

18                            Agitato

To order this CD, please click on the "ORDERS" link at the top left of the page.

Picture of Sergei Bortkiewicz in 1948, courtesy of Professor Wouter Kalkman.

For much more information on Bortkiewicz's life and music we can do no better than to recommend www.bortkiewicz.com

NOTES

To read the detailed notes about the tracks on this CD, please click the button on the right.

This will take you to another page, where you may freely, if you wish, copy and paste the notes into a file of your own and print it off at your convenience.

We're delighted to be able to let visitors to our site hear two excerpts from this wonderful CD.

The first, which you'll hear if you click the top button to the right, is from the Op. 17 set of Lamentations and Consolations and is Track 4 of the CD, marked "sostenuto e pensieroso".

 The second excerpt (click the lower button) is the ending of the first movement of Bortkiewicz's gloriously romantic Sonata No 2, from a live concert recording given by Lloyd during the evening after the first recording session.