Due to Paul Wittgenstein's exclusive performance rights, the score of Bortkiewicz's Piano Concerto No. 2 was never published in print and fell into obscurity after his death.
Composition History
Paul Wittgenstein, who commissioned the Piano Concerto No. 2, stipulated that he would exclusively own the score and have sole performing rights during his lifetime.
Composer Biography
Sergei Bortkiewicz, the composer, was born in Kharkov, Ukraine, and spent most of his childhood on the family estate of Artiomowka.
Composer Biography
Bortkiewicz received musical training in Russia at the Imperial Conservatory of Music in St Petersburg and later continued his studies in Leipzig, Germany.
Composition History
Bortkiewicz's Piano Concerto No. 2, 'for the left hand only', was commissioned by Paul Wittgenstein, a pianist who lost his right arm during World War I.
Performer Biography
Stefan Doniga, the pianist on this album, is the only Romanian pianist to perform and record the complete cycle of Mazurkas by Russian composer Alexandr Skriabin.
Composer's Artistic Vision
Bortkiewicz considered himself a romantic and a melodist, disliking modern, atonal, and cacophonous music, and built on the styles of Chopin, Liszt, Scriabin, and Rachmaninov.
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