Serge Bortkeiwicz Piano Concerto No 1 in Bb Op 16 (1912)

Milton Stern, pianist
Clemson University Symphony Orchestra
Andrew Levin, conductor
Recorded ca. 2002

Sergei Bortkiewicz (1877-1952) was born in present day Kharkiv, Ukraine. He studied at the Imperial Conservatory of Music in Saint Petersburg and later in Leipzig under two former pupils of Franz Liszt. Bortkiewicz's piano and composition style was very much based on Liszt and Chopin, nurtured by Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff, early Scriabin, Wagner and Ukrainian folklore. The piano concerto No 1 was composed in 1918, just a year before the Russian Revolution forced his family to flee to Constantinople. In subsequent years he relocated to Belgrade, Vienna, Paris, and finally to Berlin where he lived the remainder of his life. The date the work's premiere is uncertain, although in his final year it was performed in the Musikverein Hall in Vienna as a 75th birthday concert by pianist Felicitas Karrer with the composer conducting.

Milton Stern is Professor Emeritus of California State University, Los Angeles, where he was Professor of Piano and Distinguished Professor of Music for 33 years. A native of Brooklyn, NY, he earned his Doctor of Education from Columbia University in 1954. He resides in the Los Angeles, California area.

Andrew Levin is Professor Emeritus at Clemson University where he led the Clemson University Symphony Orchestra for 27 years. He is also a freelance violist who subs in regional orchestras, plays chamber music, and contracts and plays music across the southeastern US. He earned his Doctorate of Musical Arts at Ball State University. He resides in Clemson, South Carolina.