Bortkiewicz, Prelude, Op. 33, No. 10 in B flat minor

[rachfan]

This prelude is the capstone of the ten Preludes Op. 33 dating from 1926.  The piece is marked Patetico.  In it I hear a strong Tchaikovsky influence, perhaps in the style of Swan Lake.  This prelude is unlike any of the others of Bortkiewicz I have posted to date.  I hope you'll like it.

Comment welcome.

Piano: Baldwin Model L Artist Grand (6'3")

Recording: Digital using the Korg MR-1000 DSD.

[mkaykov]

What a beautiful piece, especially the way that you play. It is still 19th century style, even though it was written in '26. The ending sound a bit like Rachmaninoff......

As always, the recorded sound is absolutely gorgeous! Please post more of these gems!

[rachfan]

Hi mkaykov.

Coming from a fine pianist, yours is a huge compliment to me.  Thanks so much!

Yes, I think the best piano codas ever written were by Rachmaninoff and Bortkiewicz.  And Rachmaninoff was an influence in Bortkiewicz's music along with Chopin, Scriabin, Liszt, Tchaikovsky and Wagner.   

When I first looked at the score, my thought was "a piece of cake".  As it turned out, I actually spent more time preparing this piece than any of the other Bortkiewicz preludes presented previously.  I felt a need to play the chordal right hand as legato as possible, so devised fingering accordingly, even though the composer wrote no slur marks into the score.  I found the greater challenge to be the left hand which is constantly in motion playing leaps.  Bortkiewicz also indicated few dynamic changes, so I devised others as I thought appropriate.  I was concerned that it was a lot to expect of a listener to hear only gradients of forte as written.  I had made four recordings of this piece today, but spent even longer deciding which one to post here.  (I've yet to make "The Perfect Recording". )

I'm glad you liked both the piece and my rendition.  And yes, I still plan to persevere with the Bortkiewicz project.  I even get emails now asking when my next Bortkiewicz piece will be ready.  It's a joy for me to help a little to make this composer better known in our day.

Thanks for listening and commenting.

[goldentone]

This seems a different kind of Bortkiewicz than the preludes you've
recorded so far. (I looked back just now and saw that you said the same). 
It bears the stamp of finality. 

Your playing is excellent, Rachfan.  Love the strong
ending!  Shades of Marik. 

[rachfan]

Hi goldentone,

Thanks for listening and the compliment!  Ah, that I could only play like marik!!    He is so good.  Maybe he'll listen to this recording and get a kick out of the coda though.  This piece turned out to be more difficult than I first thought perusing the score.  I'm usually quite good at judging degree of difficulty, but this piece was treacherous.  It definitely kept me busy practicing for awhile.