Manu sinistra

Illia Ovcharenko presents together with the MDR Symfonieorkest under the direction of Oksana Lyniv "Manu Sinistra", an album devoted to the concertos for the left hand by Sergei Bortkiewicz, Serge Prokofieff and Maurice Ravel. These works were written for pianist Paul Wittgenstein, who lost his right arm in the First World War and responded to this personal tragedy by commissioning new music. Three radically different answers emerged to this unique challenge, from the expansive romanticism of Bortkiewicz' Piano Concerto no. 2 to the sharply defined and rarely performed Fourth Concerto of Prokofieff - a work that Wittgenstein himself could not understand. The highlight is Ravel's Concerto for the Left Hand, a somber, masterfully constructed work. For Ovcharenko, winner of the Honens International Piano Competition 2022, this repertoire has a deep significance, which is further strengthened by the presence of the Ukraine-born Sergei Bortkiewicz, whose music forms a link to the pianist's legacy.