Bortkiewicz - Russian Rhapsody for Piano & Orchestra

[JimL]

Can you tell us the time (minutes:seconds) when this tune starts and finishes?  Then we will stop quoting the Volga Boatmen song at you!!

It's the first thing you hear!  It was used as the rondo theme by Lalo in the finale of his Concert Russe, and pops up in the slow introduction to Golovanov's Russian Overture.

[Edward]

Also near the opening of Glazuonov's "Stenka Razin, Op 13"

[Christopher]

Can you tell us the time (minutes:seconds) when this tune starts and finishes?  Then we will stop quoting the Volga Boatmen song at you!!

It's the first thing you hear!  It was used as the rondo theme by Lalo in the finale of his Concert Russe, and pops up in the slow introduction to Golovanov's Russian Overture.

Um, the first thing one hears is a drum roll. You can't give a timing?  Lalo also used the Volga Boatmen them, so we risk going round in circles....

The tune near the beginning of Stenka Razin is....the Volga Boatmen!

[JimL]

OK.  The tune I'm talking about starts out @ :24.  I don't know if there are two "Volga Boatmen's Songs", and that's one of them, but the only Volga Boatsmen's Song I know is the one heard right at the beginning of Napravnik's Fantasie Russe.  There is no introduction in that, the orchestra just starts playing it, punctuated by piano chords.  And it is definitely NOT the same tune as that used by Bortkiewicz (or Lalo).  In fact, the Volga Boatsmen's Song isn't used by Lalo in his Concert Russe at all.

[mjkFendrich]

Hello Jim,

after your insisting in finding an answer to your quest, I've decided to join the search team
- this is what I could find so far based on your hint about Lalo's Concert Russe:
a citation from the booklet of its most recent recording from BIS
(http://www.eclassical.com/shop/17115/art4/4688204-a5a4e0-BIS-1890-SA_booklet.pdf)

An unusual feature of the second and fourth movements is that they use authentic
Russian melodies – two wedding songs from the collec tion One Hundred Russian Folk Songs, Op. 24,
by Nikolai Rimsky-Kor sakov, assembled in 1875–76 and published in 1877:
'The Bells of Novgorod' and 'The Bells Rang in the Village of Evlachevo'.
It is worth noting that some years later Igor Stravinsky, a pupil of Rimsky-Korsakov's, also drew
upon this collection for a theme for his Firebird.

I hope this helps a little bit :-)

[JimL]

I'd be willing to bet the song is The Bells Rang in the Village of Evlachevo.  Unfortunately, that's the only reference I can find.  Let me see if I can look up something on Golovanov's Russian Overture.

Nope.  There's more on Golovanov as a conductor than as a composer.

[DavidAlcock1000]

Dear all
Does anyone have the liner notes to the Marjorie Mitchell recording of Bortkiewicz Piano Concerto No 1 which they could let me have? Perhaps these are only back cover notes so it may not be a possibility - but anything on this recording (particularly on the Bortkiewicz) would be useful.
Best wishes
David

[semloh]

David, I have the Millennium Classics (re-mastered) CD of the Bortkiewicz piano concerto, coupled with Britten and Busoni. The liner notes are by Lothar Romer, in four languages.  If this is what you are looking for, I am happy to e-mail a scan to you.

[DavidAlcock1000]

Dear Semloh
I would appreciate the liner notes very much - in English only if that makes things easier and it is not too much trouble for you. How do I go about it - do I send you my e-mail address or can you get it from this site?
Best wishes
David

[semloh]

I can e-mail it directly to you from here, David.... sometime tomorrow. It's no trouble at all. 

[JimL]

The folk song which opens the Russian Rhapsody and is used in the finale of Lalo's Concerto Russe is The Bells of Novogorod (Zvonili Zvovny v Novgorode).