Many years ago there was a shop in Great Marlborough Street, London, which specialised in Russian and Eastern European sheet-music and I picked up a rather old copy of the piano reduction of Bortkiewicz's 'Cello Concerto there. It was a work that fascinated me and much later I obtained a cassette of a live performance originating from somewhere in Russia. I see a performance of it is now available to listen to on YouTube.
Bortkiewicz was a very eclectic composer - it's possible to play a game of "Spot the Original" with many of his works - and you can certainly hear borrowings from Ein Heldenleben , Ravel's Rapsodie Espagnole and various works of "The Mighty Handful" and their followers in this work as well as some melodramatic passages which wouldn't sound out of place in a film score dating from the 1930s., but Bortkiewicz was able to absorb his influences and able to create worthwhile music that stands up well on its own two feet. The slow movement of this concerto strikes me as very lovely and, at times, moving. I'm not a 'cellist but the solo part sounds very grateful for the player.
So, yes, I'd like this piece to be issued commercially to take its place behind the piano and violin concertos which have appeared over the years.
Thank you for taking part in the MusicWeb International Forum.
Len Mullenger - Founder of MusicWeb