Sergei Bortkiewicz; Sergei Rachmaninov - Works for Violin and Piano (Cristian Persinaru; Nils Franke)

Information

Composer: Sergei Bortkiewicz; Sergei Rachmaninov

• (01-03) Bortkiewicz - Violin Sonata in G minor, Op. 26
• (04-07) Bortkiewicz - Suite for violin & piano, Op. 63
• (08-10) Bortkiewicz - 3 Piano Pieces (transcr. for violin & piano by the composer)
• (11-12) Rachmaninov - Morceaux de salon, Op. 6

Cristian Persinaru, violin
Nils Franke, piano

Date: 2005
Label: APEX (Warner Classics)

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Review

Decent performances of valuable repertoire, spoiled by a poor acoustic

Sergey Bortkiewicz is one of the lesser known of the many émigrés who escaped from Bolshevik Russia. In his case the adventure took him via Constantinople to eventual settlement in Vienna, where he continued to compose in the academic tradition he had inherited from his teacher Lyadov, and which owes debts in just about equal measure to Schumann and to Franck. The G minor Sonata was composed in Vienna in 1926, but with few exceptions – such as the momentarily Scriabinesque opening bars or the finale’s mildly entertaining changing metres – the predictable, sequence- laden phrases could have come from more or less anywhere in Europe at any time since about 1880. The Suite of 1946 is not unattractive in its more modest terms; presumably it was a pot-boiler or intended as a set of teaching pieces. Best of all are Bortkiewicz’s transcriptions of three of his piano pieces, all of them unpretentious and competently turned. Rachmaninov’s two salon pieces have a deal more individuality than Bortkiewicz and, since they are comparatively rare birds in the catalogue, it is nice to be able to welcome them here.

Performances are serious and decently pre- pared, if not conspicuous for colouristic flair or panache. They are not helped by a so-so Yamaha piano and frankly poor recording (with far too much of the room acoustic). As they are presumably at the outset of their careers, it is baffling that Cristian Persinaru and Nils Franke are given no biographical notes in the booklet. But at bargain-basement price, the scarcity value of the repertoire is obviously the paramount concern.

-- David Fanning, Gramophone

More reviews:
http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2005/Mar05/bortkiewicz_complete.htm
http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Works-Violin-Piano-Morceaux/dp/B0007DAXUM

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Sergei Bortkiewicz (28 February 1877 [O.S. 16 February] in Kharkov – 25 October 1952 in Vienna) was a Romantic composer and pianist. He studied with Anatoly Lyadov and Salomon Jadassohn, among others. Bortkiewicz's piano style was very much based on Liszt and Chopin, nurtured by Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff, early Scriabin, Wagner and Ukrainian folklore. Bortkiewicz never saw himself as a "modernist" and was unaffected by the music trends of the 20th century. The greater part of his printed compositions, which were held by his German publishers (Rahter & Litolff), were destroyed in the bombing of German cities in WWII.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sergei_Bortkiewicz

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Sergei Rachmaninov (1 April [O.S. 20 March] 1873 – 28 March 1943) was a Russian composer, pianist, and conductor. He is widely considered as one of the finest pianists of his day and, as a composer, one of the last great representatives of Romanticism in Russian classical music. Some of his works are among the most popular in the romantic repertoire. His style is notable for its song-like melodicism, expressiveness and his use of rich orchestral colors. The piano is featured prominently in Rachmaninoff's compositional output, and through his own skills as a performer he explored the expressive possibilities of the instrument.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sergei_Rachmaninoff

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