Sergei Bortkiewicz - Piano Sonata No. 1 in B Major Op. 9 (Somero)

Sergiusz Bortkiewicz - Sonata Fortepianowa H-Dur
Pianist - Jouni Somero

Published in 1909, completed as early as 1903.

0:00 - Allegro ma non troppo
9:24 - Andante mesto e molto espressivo
16:46 - Presto

Sergei Bortkiewicz (1877-1952) was born into a Polish noble family in Kharkov which was then a part of the Russian Empire. His love for music and his talent was given to him by his mother, Sofia, who was a co-founder of the Kharkov school of music [1]. Growing up, he received a humanities education as well as a musical one, and he stopped just short of receiving a doctorate in Law to focus on music [1].

His musical education took place at home, then in St. Petersburg under Anatoly Lyadov and Karl von Arek, and finally in Leipzig under Alfred Reisenauer and Salomon Jadassohn. From 1904 to 1914, he lived in Berlin to focus on composing (where he may have completed this sonata).

Unfortunately, life in the 20th Century would prove exceedingly complicated and perilous for Bortkiewicz. After the beginning of the First World War, Bortkiewicz was deported back to Russia, where just shortly afterwards, the Bolsheviks would seize power. Communists had occupied his family's estate at Artemovka, so they were only able to move back once the White Army had taken the territory in June 1919. The respite was short, as the Bolsheviks would retake Kharkov soon after. Almost everything from the estate had been looted anyways, and his mother and sister, Vera, would soon die of Typhus.

Having very little left, Bortkiewicz did the sensible thing and escaped via Yalta to Istanbul, where he began impressing the locals and the many ambassadors at the embassies. The Yugoslav ambassador, Natalie Chaponitsch, arranged for Borkiewicz and his wife to obtain Yugoslav visas. They waited to get Austrian visas in Belgrade. Bortkiewicz was finally able to settle in Vienna and was given Austrian Citizenship. He lived there for five years only to move back to Germany whence he was cast out again by the Nazis, which was a disaster for his musical career. The Nazis began deleting his name from programmes, and at the outbreak of World War 2, they destroyed many of his scores. He returned to Vienna to stay, being kept afloat by his friend Hugo Von Dalen, thanks to whom, we still have most of Bortkiewicz's scores.

This piano sonata comes before the great marathon that Bortkiewicz would run from one country to another escaping hellish persecutions. That said, it is from an earlier period from which he had already established his own voice, but it was one in which his life experience had not yet changed. Bortkiewicz's style is often seen as repeating the Romantic idiom, but he has a way of breathing new life into old ideas. His counterpoint is brilliant, his melodies are inventive and heartfelt, and his harmony is lush and surprisingly dissonant at times. Here, we see an early sonata that may remind of us of Chopin and Liszt, but it exposes Bortkiewicz's own melodic brilliance.

Allegro ma non troppo - From the first few bars, we can already notice a few things: rhythmic complexity, a few spaced out motifs, and layers appearing most noticeably on bar 5. After the introduction, we start to see more romantic era tropes e.g. octaves over arpeggios, but then the layers begin to reappear along with the motifs from the introduction. There is some real melodic exuberance that is extremely characteristic of Bortkiewicz in this movement (see 5:25 - 6:33). Beyond this, the structure of this first movement, like in most romantic sonatas, is presenting the material, finding clever ways to develop and transform it, and then re-presenting it.

Andante mesto e molto espressivo - This movement invites Chopin comparisons. The atmosphere throughout has a Chopinesque quality. The introduction sound vaguely like the Prelude in C-Minor, and one can spot various remnants of his Romantic style - (Hear what sounds like a turn at 10:46 for example). Despite this, it is consistent with all of Bortkiewicz's output (Compare this with the 10 preludes Op. 33, particularly 5-8).

Presto - The sonata comes to a close with some incredibly strong energy. Like the earlier movements, there is a clear continuity with the Romantic Era (the "Brillante" style rings true here). Looking at the page, one might guess that Liszt had written it, but the music comes to life when it is played, revealing an atmosphere totally characteristic of Bortkiewicz.

One could say that the whole sonata reveals Bortkiewicz's unique voice in spite of all that reminds us of those who have come before him.

Bibliography:
[1] A. Kościelak-Nadolska, Życie i twórczość Sergiusza Bortkiewicza (1877–1952), cz. I – Sylwetka artysty,. „Notes Muzyczny”, nr 1 (5) 2016
The rest of the Biographical info comes from Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sergei_...)

Analysis of the movements is my own

IMSLP: https://imslp.org/wiki/Category:Bortk...
Pianist: https://www.jounisomero.com/