Bortkiewicz: Ballade in C sharp minor,

Bortkiewicz style was very much based on Chopin, Liszt, Rachmaninov, Tchaikovsky, early Scriabin and Russian Folklore. He was unaffected by the music trends of the 20th century - the composer never saw himself as a modernist. The outstanding individual quality of his compositions, the melodic richness and mastery of form characterize all of his works. He wrote in a style very much his own that can be immediately recognised as ‘tipically Bortkiewicz’