Only five years younger than Sergei Rachmaninov composer and
pianist, Sergei Bortkiewicz (1877-1952)
https://sergeibortkiewicz.com was
born in Kharkiv, Ukraine to a Polish noble family, spending most of his
childhood on the nearby family estate of Artemivka. He studied with Anatoly
Lyadov and Karl von Arek at the Conservatory in Saint Petersburg before
traveling to Leipzig, where he became a student of Franz Liszt pupils, Alfred
Reisenauer and Salomon Jadassohn. After completing his studies he returned to
Ukraine where he married, before settling in Berlin.
Concert tours regularly took him around Europe but at the
outbreak of World War I he was forced to leave Germany and returned to Kharkiv,
where he taught and gave concerts. The Russian Revolution forced the composer
and his family to flee the family estate at Artëmovka for Constantinople where,
with the help of the court pianist to the Sultan, Ilen Ilegey, Bortkiewicz
began to give concerts and started teaching again. They eventually moved to
Austria settling in Baden before moving to Vienna where he was to remain for
the next five years and where in 1925 he and his family finally obtained
Austrian citizenship.
World War II brought further privations but he continued to
teach and continue composition. In 1945 Bortkiewicz was appointed director of a
master class at the Vienna City Conservatory, which helped to give the composer
some of the financial security he sought. His 75th birthday was celebrated by a
concert in the Musikverein in Vienna.
Bortkiewicz’s works include an opera, Die Akrobaten, Op. 50 and a ballet Arabische Nächte, Op. 37 together with two symphonies, other
orchestral works, concertos including three for piano and orchestra, chamber
works and a large number of works for piano.
It is a selection of
Bortkiewicz’s works for piano that feature on Vol. 12 of Divine Art’s www.divine-art.co.uk/DAhome.htm
Russian Piano Music Series played by Italian
pianist Alfonso Soldano www.istitutobraga.it/docente/alfonso-soldano
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The works on this new disc range across Bortkiewicz’s
compositional life commencing here with his Lyrica Nova, Op. 59 (1940) published by Universal Edition in Vienna. The Con moto affettuoso brings a lovely melody, full of wistful feeling
with Alfonso Soldano providing fluent playing, lovely rolling chords together
with moments of fine delicacy. The Andantino
opens with a gentle descending theme before travelling through bars of quietly
flowing melody, later rising in strength before a gentle coda. The following Andantino brings a sense of nostalgia in
its finely shaped melody with Soldano finding every little detail before a lovely
coda. The shorter Con slancio brings
a more forceful nature with a directness of utterance to close this set.
The Etude in D flat
major, Op. 15: No. 8 (1911) was dedicated to one of his teachers, the
German pianist and composer Alfred Reisenauer (1863-1907). It is beautifully
phrased and shaped by this pianist with some lovely trickling phrases that
appear, revealing the influence of Chopin, rising through some more dramatic
moments where the music comes closer to early Scriabin before falling to a
quiet coda.
Bortkiewicz’s Nocturne
No.1 from Trois Morceaux, Op. 24 (1922) was dedicated to Natalie
Chaponitsch, the wife of the Yugoslavian ambassador in Istanbul. It is another
piece that draws on the influence of early Scriabin, beautifully shaped and
exquisitely delicate, with lovely shifting harmonies, quite beautifully played
here.
Esquisses de Crimée,
Op.8 (1908) dedicated to Madame Julie
Kharine reveals the composer’s study with Liszt’s pupil, Reisenauer. No. 1. Les rochers d'Outche-Coche opens
slowly and darkly before developing through passages of strength and power. The
darker opening re-appears overlaid with rippling right hand decorations. The
music develops in strength again through passages of increasing virtuosity, reminiscent
at times of Liszt with Soldano bringing his impressive technique providing fluency
and clarity. No. 2. Caprices de la mer
develops through some constantly shifting phrases that evoke the movement of
the sea before speeding through a faster passage of fleeting ideas. The music
finds its former rolling flow before speeding to the coda.
No. 3. Les promenades
des d'Aloupka: Idylle orientale brings a rhythmic idea that is developed
through some fine passages that evoke an Eastern feel with moments of great
vibrancy before a quiet coda. No. 4. Les
promenades des d'Aloupka:Chaos opens with broad phrases as it moves quickly
forward, soon finding a staccato section revealing a Bach like fugue that is soon
varied. The opening returns to lead us quickly to the coda where the fugal
theme makes a re-appearance.
Next Alfonso Soldano plays Three Preludes, first the Prelude,
Op. 13: No. 5 (1910) where he reveals a gentle, poised theme that is subtly
developed through some exquisite bars, slowly gaining strength before finding a
gentle coda. Prelude, Op. 40: No. 4 (1931)
has some lovely shifting harmonies that bring a Scriabinesque beauty,
exquisitely played. There is a warmth to the opening of the Prelude, Op. 66: No. 3 (1946) that rises
subtly. There is a constantly heard left hand rhythmic line before the music
rises more forcefully only to fall back again. The music develops through some
of this composer’s finest ideas, though with Scriabin still lurking in the
background at times, to a quiet gentle coda.
The Piano Sonata No.
2 in C-Sharp Minor, Op. 60 (1942) was dedicated to the Austrian art
historian, Hans Ankwicz-Kleehoven (1883-1962) and first performed by the
composer in the Brahms Saal of the Musikverein in Vienna. In four movements the
Allegro ma non troppo opens with a
stormy, passionate theme. There is a certain Russianness running through the
music, even with hints of Rachmaninov. The
music moves through quieter moments as it develops with ever changing rhythms
and tempi that suggest the influence of Medtner. This pianist brings a fine
fluency and coherence to the music before the opening theme returns in the coda.
A faltering staccato march opens the Allegretto,
soon developing through a more flowing passage. There are further firm staccato
passages as the movement builds in power before the sprung dance rhythm of a
polonaise, appears. The music develops through some impressive ideas with moments
of great delicacy and fluidity before the opening march returns to take the
music forcefully to the end.
The Andante
misericordioso opens with a funereal series of chords out of which emerges
a lovely melody that lightens the mood before moving through passages of great
sensitivity and feeling as the music slows to a series of tentative gentle
chords as the theme is ruminated on. The
mood lightens again as the earlier melody returns. However, the darker nature
is brought back as the coda arrives. A brief, fluent Agitato concludes this sonata with a buoyant dance like central section
before the passionate theme of the first movement is heard and the music moves
quickly to a resolute coda.
This is a particularly attractive sonata in all its varying
moods.
This is a valuable addition to this fine series, well
recorded at the Concert Hall of the European Arts Academy ‘Aldo Ciccolini,
Trani, Italy. There are excellent booklet notes and photographs.
See also:
http://theclassicalreviewer.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/playing-of-sensitivity-and-bravura-from.html
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