Nils Francke

Bortkiewicz: Chamber Music Nils Francke

Recent years have seen a slow but steady revival of the music of Sergei Bortkiewicz (1877-1952), Ukrainian composer and pianist, oppressed by the Nazis and Soviets, refugee and survivor of two World Wars, composer of wonderfully rich, appealing and colorful music in the Romantic tradition: he adopted Liszt's rich and brilliant piano writing, Chopin's lyricism, the imagery of Schumann's character pieces and Wagner's imaginative harmony. This release contains chamber music by Bortkiewicz: the substantial and dramatic Violin Sonata, 3 Pieces for violin and piano and the Suite for violin and piano, as well as the Trois Morceaux Op. 25 and Élégie for cello and piano. A reissue of a previously issued recording by Cristian Persinaru (violin), Paul Cox (cello) and Nils Franke (piano).