Piano World Home Page Forums Fun Stuff! - Parties, Tours, Projects & More... Member Recordings Bortkiewicz, Prelude Op. 33, No. 6 in C#m

Here is a re-recording of Bortkiewicz's Prelude, Op. 33, No. 6 in C#m (now that my hearing has mostly returned). It's a dark, plaintive, brooding, and tragic sounding piece ending on a note of doom. I think it provides a powerful contrast to his other preludes and is very effective.

Here's the link:

http://www.pianostreet.com/smf/index.php/topic,29835.0.html

I hope you'll enjoy it.

thanks for that rachfan, beautifully played, though the piece didn't quite agree with me...
Hope your ear's better soon, wouldn't want to miss all this bortkiewicz playing!

Zac

Hi Zac,

Despite my hearing problem, which actually improved great today, I decided to re-record the piece today. I believe it's a better performance than the original. I hope you'll give it another try. While it might not be your favorite Bortkiewicz piece, at least you'll hear a better rendition that better represents the composer. Thanks!

David

I love Bortkiewicz! I have lots of his music, maybe some day, I will be able to master it. Keep the recordings coming.
Mike

Hi Mike,

Yeah, it's pretty easy to get hooked on Sergei Borkiewicz's music! I keep trying to tear myself away, but then I find another of his pieces I want to study and record. So I've made a project of it.

Bortkiewicz--a pianist, conductor, composer, and conservatory professor--lived much of his life in great financial hardship, especially during WWII. After he died in 1952, his music was seldom heard, then almost not at all. Had he immigrated to the U.S. like Rachmaninoff, instead of settling in Vienna, I think he would likely be famous today. His music is inventive and extraordinary!

All of the performance practices for his late romantic pieces have been lost over the decades. So every time I prepare one of these pieces, I have to formulate an interpretation from scratch. But I always try to play one that I believe would most please the composer. It's a pleasure to help raise pianists' awareness of this music in these forums.

Thanks for listening and commenting!

Hi guys, I'm from India and have been playing the piano for about 8 years now but I've never really had any good teachers so far. I went to Vienna for a summer course with a Slovenian pianist and composer. All I want to do now is to master my instrument and I'm also interested in songwriting. I plan to take off one year after I graduate (I'm doing my masters in Physics, will graduate in May 2009) to prepare for auditions. I intend to audition for Berklee, Oberlin, and other good institutes.. I've just begun building a repertoire. Did the first movement of the tempest by Beethoven, working on Chopin etude Op 25, No 2 and doing the Bach prelude and fugue in C minor. I also need to get started on a modern composition. Where can I get hold of scores by Bortkiewicz and can somebody tell me (with the kind of pieces I'm working on) if I am likely to have the technique to play his pieces..?

Hi liszt,

I'm delighted that you've taken a liking to the music of Sergei Bortkiewicz! To most pianists, this Late Romantic period music is usually first heard as "new music", as it has been in obscurity and neglect for so many decades.

A good place to find Bortkiewicz's piano scores is this link which you can copy and paste in the URL field:

http://imslp.org/wiki/Category:Bortkiewicz%2C_Sergei_Eduardovich

You can download these works, and they are free.

While many of his pieces pose some technical difficulties, others are written more at the intermediate level. Thus, there is something for everyone in his repertoire. Best thing is to look through the sheet music to see what might be doable.

Best of luck!