 Le compositeur ukrainien Sergei Bortkiewicz fut un exilé à Berlin puis à Vienne. Balloté entre sa culture allemande et la Russie devenue soviétique, vivant dans l’angoisse jusqu’à l’occupation de Vienne, à la fin de la Seconde Guerre mondiale, le musicien ne bénéficia guère de la reconnaissance internationale qu’il méritait. Il est vrai que son écriture rétive à toute forme de modernité, qu’il s’agisse de ses symphonies ou œuvres concertantes demeura marquée par les harmonies de Chopin, Tchaikovski, Scriabine et Rachmaninov. Bortkiewicz était avant tout un excellent mélodiste, capable de broder de superbes développements. Slawomir Wilk rend hommage à ce musicien qui sert si bien la valse et les esthétiques des temps passés. Il y a beaucoup de nostalgie dans les Lyrica Nova et les Préludes qui ne peuvent toutefois se mesurer à ceux de Rachmaninov. Les mélodies russes affluent, le folklore est comme recréé. En quatre mouvements, l’impressionnante Sonate n° 2 fut donnée en première audition au Musikverein de Vienne, en 1942. Elle apparaît finalement comme l’acte de résistance d’un musicien d’origine slave. En effet, bien des passages font songer à Chopin… Une très belle musique bien défendue. (Jean Dandrésy) On the album we will hear compositions by Sergei Bortkiewicz (1877–1952), which have never been recorded before. His artistic path was shaped by the history and geopolitics of the turbulent 20th century. He was born in Kharkiv, Ukraine, as a Russian of Polish descent; he received his education in St Petersburg and Berlin; after fleeing from revolutionary Russia, he worked in Constantinople; he spent the last decades of his life in Vienna, where he escaped from Nazi-controlled Berlin. All the above had an effect on his piano output – he was influenced by the music of Chopin and Rachmaninoff, an incurable romanticist and lyricist, looking in his compositions for the beauty of the melody. At the same time, he lived up to the musical traditions of Western Europe by composing works full of classical grace, technically refined, entering into a dialogue with the musical trends of the era. On the album we present a diverse selection of Bortkiewicz’s compositions, from lyrical miniatures, including the Chopinesque Preludes, Op. 40, depicting a wide range of moods and feelings, to the beautiful Sonata No. 2 in C-sharp Minor, Op. 60, both extremely emotional and sophisticated. It is Slawomir Wilk (b. 1982) that is both the performer of Bortkiewicz’s music and the author of the idea of bringing his forgotten output to the audience, an excellent Polish pianist of young generation, soloist and chamber musician, awarded for his artistic activities on a number of occasions, also active in the field of organization of musical life and teaching.
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Catalogue 
