Bortkiewicz - Russian Rhapsody for Piano & Orchestra

[Mark Thomas]

Well done Herrarte for this great upload! I for one can never get enough Bortkiewicz.

[Richard Moss]

Well, an 'orchestral' recording has turned up at last!  I've got the synthesised version - originally on cassette but transferred to CD - by Bhagwan Thadani from many years ago.  I would have bought more of his tapes at the time, as I thought his piano playing sounded very accomplished, but I couldn't get away with the synthesiser in lieu of a proper orchestra.

With hindsight, the man deserves a medal for being instrumental (no pun intended!) in helping to save such wonderful music as Bortkewiecz, Antonov, Cui et al from total obscurity.

Tks for the upload, which I hope to listen to with much pleasure shortly.

Best wishes

Richard

[DennisS]

I would like to thank you Herrarte also for the upload. I am very fond of Bortkiewicz and like the Rhapsody a lot. I very much like the way he incorporates a quote from the Volga Boatmen into the rhapsody  as the climax of the piece.
Thanks again.

[Rob H]

Bhagwan Thadani was indeed a wonderful explorer of all things obscure but I'm not sure how accomplished a pianist he is. The recordings I heard (the concertos and rhapsodie and some Blumenfeld piano solos) were all midi recordings. Apart from the sound and the absolute rigid tempo (would you really play the octaves in Blumenfeld op17/12 like that?), there were mistakes in notes that notation programmes like Finale make unless you are very careful (in lots of pieces there are false relations where an accidental has been entered in one layer but not in another).
That said it was great to have a chance to hear these works at a time when no-one else was recording them.
Rob

[Christopher]

Many thanks to you Herrarte!   I have wanted to hear this "Borty" piece for years!  Do you know if the Chernigiv ORchestra and Sukach have released other Borty works too again?  In the past, they tended to come out in batches....  I can't find any kind of website for them...

[jerfilm]

I add my thanks, too, for this lovely download.  Also thanks to Mathias and others for the other recent uploads.  I just finished burning and cataloging about 50 CDs that I made this summer while in Colorado - most of them came from this site.  Thank you, thank you, thank you   

I wish I were younger (who doesn't??) and had a little more energy.  I have about 175 r2r tapes which contain things I'm sure would interest some here.    If anyone is interested in seeing the list, I'd be happy to email a copy of the spreadsheet.  But beware, there are over 1400 entries to plow through.

Jerry

[JimL]

There's that theme again!  The initial theme of the Rhapsody is the same folk song used by Golovanov in the introduction of his Russian Overture and by Lalo as the rondo theme in the finale of his Concert Russe (3rd Violin Concerto).  Does anybody know its name?

[Christopher]

There's that theme again!  The initial theme of the Rhapsody is the same folk song used by Golovanov in the introduction of his Russian Overture and by Lalo as the rondo theme in the finale of his Concert Russe (3rd Violin Concerto).  Does anybody know its name?

I think you must be referring to The Song of the Volga Boatmen, which is used in many Russia-themed pieces. It's been recorded in various forms on many "Your Favourite Russian Music"-type compilations.

You can read about it here - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Song_of_the_Volga_Boatmen - article says:

The "Song of the Volga Boatmen" (Russian: Эй, ухнем!) is a well-known traditional Russian song collected by Mily Balakirev, and published in his book of folk songs in 1866. It is a genuine shanty sung by burlaks, or barge-haulers, on the Volga River. Balakirev published it with only one verse (the first). The other two verses were added at a later date. The song inspired Ilya Repin's famous painting, Barge Haulers on the Volga, which depicts burlaks in Tsarist Russia.
The song was popularised by Feodor Chaliapin, and has been a favourite concert piece of bass singers ever since. Glenn Miller's jazz arrangement took the song to #1 in the US charts in 1941. Spanish composer Manuel De Falla wrote an arrangement of the song, which was published under the name Canto de los remeros del Volga (del cancionero musical ruso) in 1922.[2] He did so at the behest of diplomat Ricardo Baeza, who was working with the League of Nations to provide financial relief for the more than two million Russian refugees who had been displaced and imprisoned during World War I. All proceeds from the song's publication were donated to this effort.

Lyrics

Russian
   
Эй, ухнем!
Эй, ухнем!
Ещё разик, ещё да раз!
Эй, ухнем!
Эй, ухнем!
Ещё разик, ещё да раз!
Разовьём мы берёзу,
Разовьём мы кудряву!
Ай-да, да ай-да,
Aй-да, да ай-да,
Разовьём мы кудряву.
Мы по бережку идём,
Песню солнышку поём.
Ай-да, да ай-да,
Aй-да, да ай-да,
Песню солнышку поём.
Эй, эй, тяни канат сильней!
Песню солнышку поём.
Эй, ухнем!
Эй, ухнем!
Ещё разик, ещё да раз!
Эх ты, Волга, мать-река,
Широка и глубока,
Ай-да, да ай-да,
Aй-да, да ай-да,
Волга, Волга, мать-река
Эй, ухнем!
Эй, ухнем!
Ещё разик, ещё да раз!
Эй, ухнем!
Эй, ухнем!

Transliteration   

Ey, ukhnem!
Ey, ukhnem!
Yeshcho razik, yeshcho da raz!
Ey, ukhnem!
Ey, ukhnem!
Yeshcho razik, yeshcho da raz!
Razovyom my beryozu,
Razovyom my kudryavu!
Ai-da, da ai-da,
Ai-da, da ai-da,
Razovyom my kudryavu.
My po berezhku idyom,
Pesnyu solnyshku poyom.
Ai-da, da ai-da,
Ai-da, da ai-da,
Pesnyu solnyshku poyom.
Ey, Ey, tyani kanat silney!
Pesnyu solnyshku poyom.
Ey, ukhnem!
Ey, ukhnem!
Yeshcho razik, yeshcho da raz!
Ekh, ty, Volga, mat'-reka,
Shiroka i gluboka,
Ai-da, da ai-da,
Ai-da, da ai-da,
Volga, Volga, mat'-reka
Ey, ukhnem!
Ey, ukhnem!
Yeshcho razik, yeshcho da raz!
Ey, ukhnem!
Ey, ukhnem!

(Poetic) English translation

Yo, heave ho!
Yo, heave ho!
Once more, once again, still once more
Yo, heave ho!
Yo, heave ho!
Once more, once again, still once more
Now we fell the stout birch tree,
Now we pull hard: one, two, three.
Ay-da, da, ay-da!
Ay-da, da, ay-da!
Now we pull hard: one, two, three.
As the barges float along,
To the sun we sing our song.
Ay-da, da, ay-da!
Ay-da, da, ay-da!
To the sun we sing our song.
Hey, hey, let's heave a-long the way
to the sun we sing our song
Yo, heave ho!
Yo, heave ho!
Once more, once again, still once more
Volga, Volga our pride,
Mighty stream so deep and wide.
Ay-da, da, ay-da!
Ay-da, da, ay-da!
Volga, Volga you're our pride.
Yo, heave ho!
Yo, heave ho!
Once more, once again, still once more
Yo, heave ho!
Yo, heave ho!
[edit]Modern popular culture

The catchy tune of The Song of the Volga Boatmen has led to its being used in many musical situations, particularly as background music, often with the theme of unremitting toil (or, alternatively, devotion to duty). Some uses, particularly those portending doom or despair, employ only the iconic four-note beginning; others go so far as to add new, often wryly humorous, lyrics, such as the "Birthday Dirge". Some of the uses acknowledge the tune's Russian heritage; very few use the original lyrics.

The song, or at least the tune, was popularized in the mid-20th Century through a jazz version played by the Glenn Miller Band. A translated vocal version was sung by Paul Robeson. The Boston Pops Orchestra conducted by Arthur Fiedler recorded the tune in New York City on June 30, 1937. The arranger was Glazounov. It was released by EMI on the HMV Records label as catalogue number B 9182.
It was recorded by jazz pianist Ahmad Jamal on his album Count 'Em 88 (Argo, 1956).
The tune was used as part of the theme song for the Fremantle Football Club Australian rules football team, albeit with different lyrics, until 2011.
The first three lines of the melody can be heard in the background of Billy Squier's 1981 song, The Stroke. They occur beginning at approximately 2:57 into the song as a synthesizer line.
It is often used in various classic cartoons (including Tom and Jerry and Bugs Bunny) whenever a character is hauling something from one place to another. The music normally goes from the main (usually the chase) theme which slows down as the character drags the weight, and then transforms into the Song of the Volga Boatmen, which stops as soon as the character gets rid of the weight, and then the music goes back to normal.[citation needed]
The song was also used in an episode of The Simpsons to punctuate a joke about Boris Yeltsin (specificially, his alcoholism).
An extract from the song was also used as part of Soda Popinski's fight introduction in the NES game Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!!.
In The Three Stooges, Shemp sings this to the milkman when he is milking the cow when they are cavemen.
The Heavy, a large Russian man and one of the playable classes of the game Team Fortress 2, sometimes sings this song while pushing the bomb cart towards the objective, after winning a round, or after eating a Sandvich or Dalokohs Bar.
In the first Shrek movie, a group of gnome-like fairy tale creatures sings The Song of the Volga Boatmen with other lyrics as they are taken away in shackles.
On the SpongeBob episode "Employee of the Month", Squidward and SpongeBob try to upset each other with various traps and tricks as each races to the Krusty Krab to be early for work. The final "trap" the two lay on each other sees them both crawling while being tied to a massive boat and an anchor while a deeper, harsher instrumental of the chorus plays.
In the movie Lord of War starring Nicolas Cage, the song can be heard in the background in a scene featuring the vast Soviet arsenal of tanks, guns and helicopters.
The German band Scorpions sang it on the start of their DVD To Russia With Love And Other Savage Amusements.
In the Sid Meier's Civilization series, the song symbolizes the Russian civilization and two of its leaders: Peter the Great and Joseph Stalin.
Russian MMA Fighter Fedor Emelianenko uses a version of the song as his current walk out song.
The song was used in Shaun the Sheep animated series.
The song is featured in Mad Men episode 5.06 entitled Far Away Places. In the scene, Roger Sterling is hallucinating and imagines the song being played every time he uncorks a bottle of vodka.

[jerfilm]

The 1926 silent film THE VOLGA BOATMAN with Wm. Boyd, Elinor Fair and Julia Faye used the song as the theme in the accompanying music.   How's that for trivia???

Jerry

[JimL]

That's not the tune I'm talking about.  I'm talking about the beginning of the Rhapsody.  I'll give an outline of it in A minor, so I don't have to spell out any flats: A-A-A-C--A-DED-C-A--.  That theme.  The tune rises, falls, rises then falls again.  The Volga Boatmen's song, if I'm not mistaken was the one used by Napravnik in his Russian Fantasy.  In A minor it would be: CAD-A---CAD--A---CAF-E-D-CAD-A---.  If you have the Lalo Concert Russe, the folk song I'm referring to is the theme heard in the finale right after the slow introduction.  While there may be some similarities in the shape of the two themes, why would both Golovanov and Bortkiewicz use Lalo's exact melody if it was just a variation on the Boatmen's song?  The tune used by Lalo rises a third before falling back down to the tonic.  I don't think it's a variation, I think it's an entirely different folk song.  Any ideas?

[markniew]

Yes, Naprawnik used that theme in his Fantasie.
Bortkiewicz's Rhapsody recalled me also Caprice russe by Rubinstein. I have re-listened to it after years and still have impression that at the very beginning the second melody line of the Volga Boatmen song is echoed there.

[JimL]

Yes to all that, but the theme I'm talking about, I'm pretty sure, is another folk tune, and not the Volga Boatmen's Song!

[giles.enders]

Oh! Please don't rescue Cui, let him stay undisturbed where he is.

[Richard Moss]

Giles,

I've now re-read my earlier post.  I realise I shouldn't have lumped them all together under the same umbrella of wonderful music, as it was only the Bortkiewicz works that I had actually acquired.  I only mentioned the others as 'lost' works because I'd read that Mr Thadani had researched and rescued them.

However, whether Cui et al deserved to be rescued/resurrected is surely a matter of personal taste.  I'm not disputing your judgement about the quality (or lack of it) for Mr Cui et al.  However, I would suggest that it is better to rescue 'bad' music than not to rescue 'good', since one man's quality judgements are another man's preferences.  At least if a work is rescued, then we are free to make a choice about it.  If it is lost (i.e. in score only) then only the privileged few can gain any sort of appreciation

Best wishes

Richard

PS I realise your own post might well have been with tongue in cheek - the above post was merely triggered by yours to suggest a line of thought in a slightly more serious vein

[Alan Howe]

Meanwhile, back to Bortkiewicz...