Ilya Aizberg (1868-1942) Piano Concerto

[Darrel Hoffman]

I've been trying to find the complete parts for a concerto by this Ukrainian/Georgian composer.  IMSLP has a 2-piano reduction here:
https://imslp.org/wiki/Piano_Concerto%2C_Op.15_(Aizberg%2C_Ilya)

I have already transcribed it as a reduction (it's one of the first pieces I did in fact, though I never posted it as I didn't have a complete score), but obviously, I could only guess at the orchestra parts.  I've done the 2nd piano part as just a string ensemble for now, much as I did with the Borgstrom concerto, which was what brought this forum to my attention.  I'm hoping that as in that case, someone here might know how to go about finding this piece as well.  I've found very little information about him anywhere, let alone manuscripts.  I imagine that it would be found somewhere in Ukraine, and I'd guess that people there have bigger things to worry about right now, but on the off-chance anyone knows of other sources, I figured I'd reach out.

(I realize this might be borderline for the romantic era, though for what it's worth, IMSLP at least considers him to be in the Romantic Period, which seems to have lasted somewhat longer in the Soviet Union than in other parts of Europe.  I'll understand if you all feel like this is off topic here though.)

[Christopher]

I've asked my contact at the Tbilisi Conservatoire if they have it - so far they have only found that they have his "Capriccio Hebraique", arranged for 2 pianos. My contact also searched the Russian National Library catalogue.  It lists the same 2-piano version of the piano concerto, but also a full-orchestra+piano score of the Capriccio Hebraique.

https://nlr.ru/e-case3/sc2.php/note/lc/110/8 - piano concerto (2-piano version)

https://nlr.ru/e-case3/sc2.php/note/lc/110/4 - Capriccio Hebraique (full orchestral score - piano +orchestra)

[Darrel Hoffman]

Thanks for looking into it.  IMSLP also has the Capriccio I see, but only the 2-piano version.  Definitely not the same piece, but it could be another project I could look at.

I'm not sure what to do with the links you posted, it seems only to be the card catalog entries and not the actual scores?  So maybe they have only a physical manuscript but nothing digitized?  Useful if I was in St. Petersburg maybe.  I don't read Russian, so I'm relying on the browser translation, which is less than perfect, and might have mangled some things.  (It did translate the composer's name to "iceberg", which, I guess that's probably accurate but you shouldn't be translating proper nouns like that, oh well.)

Unfortunately, I am near the other St. Petersburg (in Florida) which is about to get hit with a major hurricane, so I may be out of communication for the next several days.  Crossing fingers on that one.

[eschiss1]

The full score of the capriccio is at FLP, I think, but no such luck with the piano concerto.

[Christopher]

Thanks for looking into it.  IMSLP also has the Capriccio I see, but only the 2-piano version.  Definitely not the same piece, but it could be another project I could look at.

I'm not sure what to do with the links you posted, it seems only to be the card catalog entries and not the actual scores?  So maybe they have only a physical manuscript but nothing digitized? 

Yes the links are catalogue entries, not the actual works.  From my experience with libraries and archives in that part of the world, it is most likely, as you suggest, a physical manuscript and you would need to make a request for it to be scanned (or, more likely, ask someone who has the right to make the request), with an associated fee.

[Darrel Hoffman]

The full score of the capriccio is at FLP, I think, but no such luck with the piano concerto.

So my impression of FLP is they seem to only carry physical manuscripts, and mostly only loan them out to orchestras?  Every time I've looked there they don't seem to have digital copies of anything.  I'm not sure if I'm prepared to go that deep on these.  My process involves taking a lot of notes on the score, which you can do easily on digital, but obviously that kind of thing is not okay with a paper copy.  I suppose the other option is to get someone to scan it, but I doubt they do that for free, and I don't really have a budget for this project, at least until I get enough of a following that it actually earns me money, which probably won't be for a while.