Unsung Composers

The Music => Recordings & Broadcasts => Topic started by: Martin Eastick on Friday 05 January 2018, 11:44

Title: Bortkiewicz Piano Concertos Nos 2 & 3
Post by: Martin Eastick on Friday 05 January 2018, 11:44
After many years of expectation, here at last is a commercial recording of the 2nd and 3rd Piano Concertos. I know that some here have reservations about these two works, but I certainly will be ordering this! https://www.jpc.de/jpcng/classic/detail/-/art/klavierkonzerte-2-3/hnum/8051464
Title: Re: Bortkiewicz Piano Concertos Nos 2 & 3
Post by: Richard Moss on Friday 05 January 2018, 12:37
Looks like a re-issue of the recording offered by the Nederlands Musiek Institut a few years ago, which then (and I presume now) is the only 'issued' CD available.

Cheers

Richard
Title: Re: Bortkiewicz Piano Concertos Nos 2 & 3
Post by: Gareth Vaughan on Friday 05 January 2018, 13:12
Yes it does, Richard. I already have that CD so there would seem little point in my buying this one, though I am very glad to see these works made more widely available. I have no reservations about them. I love them both. Good news, Martin.
Title: Re: Bortkiewicz Piano Concertos Nos 2 & 3
Post by: Mark Thomas on Friday 05 January 2018, 14:48
Great news! Somehow the earlier NMI incarnation has passed me by, so I shall avidly await this reincarnation.
Title: Re: Bortkiewicz Piano Concertos Nos 2 & 3
Post by: edurban on Friday 05 January 2018, 22:24
This is wonderful news.  I've tried several times to order this recording from its Dutch source without success.  Thanks.
Title: Re: Bortkiewicz Piano Concertos Nos 2 & 3
Post by: Ilja on Saturday 06 January 2018, 18:49
I've heard other people experiencing the same problem. But most importantly, these are excellent recordings that deserve a wider audience.
Title: Re: Bortkiewicz Piano Concertos Nos 2 & 3
Post by: raffite33 on Monday 22 January 2018, 16:47
I'd be curious to know, when anyone gets this, if it is a pressed CD or a CD-R, as was the last thing on Piano Classics I ordered, an Alkan CD by Vincenzo Maltempo.
Title: Re: Bortkiewicz Piano Concertos Nos 2 & 3
Post by: Alan Howe on Monday 22 January 2018, 21:50
As a matter of interest did that CD-R play OK?
Title: Re: Bortkiewicz Piano Concertos Nos 2 & 3
Post by: raffite33 on Monday 29 January 2018, 16:35
Yep, it played with no problems on my Oppo BDP-93.  That, of course, doesn't mean it would necessarily do so on whatever machine I may own in the future.  I've been collecting CDs for over thirty years, and, at my age, that's going to be the format I stick with until I'm deaf or dead.  There seem to a be a lot of varying opinions and very little convincing scientific evidence on the durability of CD-Rs.  The CDs in my main collection never leave my man cave, but I do keep some duplicates and things weeded from my main collection in my car.  I can say for sure the CD-Rs in my car eventually started to skip badly and some took on a brownish hue, while the CDs held up just fine.  I'd guess it is the heat or the humidity, but I suppose the cold might also have something to do with it.  Admittedly, extreme conditions, but it leads me to worry that simple age might have the same effect on them over time, even when well kept.
Title: Re: Bortkiewicz Piano Concertos Nos 2 & 3
Post by: eschiss1 on Sunday 11 February 2018, 20:18
This  _isn't_ a new recording. Herrarte mentioned it back in 2016. Nice that it's commercially available now though (and over NML.) Looking forward to hearing it.

Ah, ok, that's already understood, nevermind.
Title: Re: Bortkiewicz Piano Concertos Nos 2 & 3
Post by: herrarte on Friday 16 February 2018, 18:59
(http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2009/May09/Bortkiewicz_c13172.jpg)

Here's the artwork of the CD I purchased years ago from that Dutch site.
Title: Re: Bortkiewicz Piano Concertos Nos 2 & 3
Post by: ken on Friday 23 February 2018, 15:46
BORTKIEWICZ Piano Concertos 2 & 3 are now available to order from MDT:

https://www.mdt.co.uk/bortkiewicz-piano-concertos-2-and-3-stefan-doniga-piano-classics.html

Title: Re: Bortkiewicz Piano Concertos Nos 2 & 3
Post by: Mark Thomas on Friday 23 February 2018, 20:35
... and for immediate download from Presto Classical (http://www.prestoclassical.co.uk/classical/products/8404449--bortkiewicz-piano-concertos-nos-2-3).
Title: Re: Bortkiewicz Piano Concertos Nos 2 & 3
Post by: Revilod on Tuesday 13 March 2018, 18:41
Surprisingly, this disc is included in a 15 disc set of "Russian Piano Concertos" about to be released By Brilliant Classics. Depending on what you already have, this could be a good buy as each disc works out at less than £3 each.  Here it is at Amazon:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Russian-Piano-Concertos-Various-Artists/dp/B078X9KRDQ/ref=sr_1_2?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1520965741&sr=1-2&keywords=bortkiewicz+piano+concerto&dpID=61h92BmKU%252BL&preST=_SY300_QL70_&dpSrc=srch
Title: Re: Bortkiewicz Piano Concertos Nos 2 & 3
Post by: Mark Thomas on Tuesday 13 March 2018, 22:07
£7.99 for the mp3 download is an absolutely incredible bargain as, by the way, is the Stamitz Quartet's lovely performances of the complete Dvorak string quartets for the same price from Brilliant Classics, which I've recently downloaded.

Back to the "Russian" Piano Concertos, though: Brilliant Classics' definition of "Russian" seems to be highly elastic. By no stretch would Moszkowski or Scharwenka have regarded themselves as Russian. Both were born in what is now Poland, Moszkowski was ethnically Polish and Scharwenka was of mixed Bohemian/Polish lineage, and they were always German citizens, whilst I'm sure that the great Polish nationalist Paderewski, although certainly a Russian citizen until 1918, would also have bristled at being described as Russian!
Title: Re: Bortkiewicz Piano Concertos Nos 2 & 3
Post by: Revilod on Tuesday 13 March 2018, 23:13
Yes. I spotted that.  It's surprising that the Bortkiewicz disc should be issued by two companies at the same time, though. The Boris Tchaikovsky/Mossolov disc seems out of place too. Also Khrennikov.
Title: Re: Bortkiewicz Piano Concertos Nos 2 & 3
Post by: Christopher on Wednesday 14 March 2018, 01:50
Quote from: Mark Thomas on Tuesday 13 March 2018, 22:07
whilst I'm sure that the great Polish nationalist Paderewski, although certainly a Russian citizen until 1918, would also have bristled at being described as Russian!

He was Polish prime minister wasn't he?  Blimey!
Title: Re: Bortkiewicz Piano Concertos Nos 2 & 3
Post by: Ilja on Wednesday 14 March 2018, 10:47
Quote from: Christopher on Wednesday 14 March 2018, 01:50
Quote from: Mark Thomas on Tuesday 13 March 2018, 22:07
whilst I'm sure that the great Polish nationalist Paderewski, although certainly a Russian citizen until 1918, would also have bristled at being described as Russian!

He was Polish prime minister wasn't he?  Blimey!


One of the first, even (2nd or 3rd, depending on how you count). There is always something quite preposterous about assigning modern nationalities to pre-1918 central European people. Just look at individuals like Reznicek (Austrian from Moravian stock, working in Berlin), Bortkiewicz (Imperial Russian Ukranian working mostly in Vienna and Berlin). The more so since often these people's attitudes were inconsistent: Smetana, for instance, drifted from support for the Austrian Empire to Bohemian nationalism by way of pan-slavism - and during his lifetime faced a fundamental re-structuring of his native "country".
Title: Re: Bortkiewicz Piano Concertos Nos 2 & 3
Post by: raffite33 on Wednesday 11 April 2018, 19:19
Piano Classics, who re-issued the Bortkiewicz concertos, is owned by Brilliant Classics who issued the "Russian" concertos box set.  They did the same thing with their Alkan box;  two of the discs from that were issued separately, although I think those were new recordings.
Title: Re: Bortkiewicz Piano Concertos Nos 2 & 3
Post by: eschiss1 on Wednesday 11 April 2018, 20:12
Thanks- I keep getting them confused with the label Grand Piano & shouldn't!!