Charles Valentin Alkan (1813-1888): "Allegretto alla barbaresca", from: Concerto for solo piano, op. 39 No. 10 Schaghajegh Nosrati, piano Video: Jo Titze
you know what fascinates me about Alkan? his pieces grow, grow, grow and grow in an unstoppable way in sonority and intensity. when you think it reached climax, there's one more soon. when you think the piano can't sound fuller, texture gets even thicker in a much greater effect than before. Alkan is the piano with NO LIMITS! A master!
Alkan also loved, and wrote music for, the "pedal piano". Which allowed even more textures, sonorities, and intensity, by enabling bass register notes to be played with the feet as well, like on an organ. The instrument just never caught on.
It makes me very happy that younger pianists are taking Alkan seriously. It's such a breath of fresh air, a walk away from the beaten track. Alkan was a very capable composer of unique genius. Thanks for this wonderful interpretation, Schaghajegh.
Anyone who is able to perform it is a kind of a god to me. this piece, and especially this movement, is one of the most difficult piano pieces ever written in the romantic repertoire. Bravo!
Wonderful piece and I'm so pleased to see you are playing more of Alkan's music. It is also encouraging to see more female professionals taking on this repertoire! Brava!
This is a great performance! It's clear that she puts an extraordinarily lot of effort into the practice of this movement. The clarity of her playing never lets up, and every passage is so carefully thought-out and executed -- to the point where she brings out certain colors, sonorities, and effects that I've never heard from any other performance/recording of this piece. The same applies to her recording of the entire Concerto on her CD. No note is ignored. And that's REALLY saying something for a work that is so long and so difficult to even play at all! I recently bought her CD and enjoyed reading her liner notes, which detail how she and her brother were, at a young age, introduced to Alkan by their piano teacher. It also gives a brief explanation of each piece on the CD and her reasoning for choosing each one, which I appreciated. We have Alkan's most-well-known work (the Concerto from the Op.39 Etudes), a first-recording (Etude alla Barbaro); one of Alkan's last works (Toccatina, Op.75); and a well-chosen selection from his Op.63 Esquisses, each demonstrating a different aspect of Alkan's writing. The entire album was well-worth my purchase! I couldn't help but notice, though -- and this is SUPER, SUPER nitpicky -- she misread the 2 triple-sharps in the Concerto. (They are at about 8:10 and 9:34 in the left hand, each the 3rd note of the 6-note run.) It's consistent across both performances, both this video and on the CD, so it's clearly a misreading, not a mistake. Again, not AT ALL a big deal, especially since the notation around that whole passage is confusing anyway. I just like listening for those triple-sharps ever since I heard they were in the score. (Just look at my profile pic, haha! I'm fascinated by them!)
great comment, thank you! I love the triple sharps, too. I develop music software, and many programs don't show triple sharps correctly, but I made sure our program does :D I'll have to check the recording out, thanks for the recommendation and great description. Up until a few years ago, i basically owned every Alkan recording in existence. Now they are starting to be too numerous for that, thankfully :)
@@alkankondo89 One of our projects is OpenSheetMusicDisplay, a free and open source MusicXML renderer for the browser. If you go to opensheetmusicdisplay.org/ and click on the Demo link, you can click on select score and select the OSMD Function Test - Accidentals, where it has triple sharp and triple flat ^^ Also, we develop apps, PhonicScore for Android, and PracticeBird for iOS. Both can also render and play back MusicXML, and give you feedback on your playing, scroll the score automatically, and otherwise help practicing.
Could hear Mrs. Nosrati yesterday evening in the "Kammermusiksaal" of the "Deutschlandfunk" in Cologne, playing Bach and...the concerto for piano solo of Alkan. Absolutely wonderful and breathtaking, what a technique and understanding of the music!Just amazing!!!
Played with absolutely breathtaking virtuosity and fascinating sound!!! Doubtless the greatest performance of this gigantic masterwork i've ever heard and i know meanwhile many of them
congratulations for a sensitive performance of Allegretto alla Barbaresca. the difficult of this piece is outstanding, not only technical but very difficult musically.
Fantastic rendering here, only reservation is the humorous moments are missed or glossed over. Hamelin does a better job in bringing those out. Still A+ on everything else.
A lot of comments refer to this video as a 'performance'. But is it really? The playing is fantastic and the music comes across very well indeed. But I take 'performance' to mean one continuous unedited play-through of the piece in front of an audience (which exceptionally might be just the performer). We don't know if the audio has been edited, and the constant cutting of the video means we can't know for sure. I don't say this to detract from SN's amazing musicianship - her Bach recordings are as interesting and successful as the Alkan recordings - but I feel that videos of this kind are a bit misleading. The constant shifts of perpective, camera angle etc. are obviously designed to make the experience visually 'interesting' but at the same time they reduce a sense of continuity, make it easy to edit the audio to remove 'imperfections' like split notes, and in the end create a suspicion of inauthenticity: the kind of inauthenticity you associate with marketing or promotional material. Personally I find this a bit of a turn off. I wonder what others think?
It is not only her recording of this master piece which is astonishing. You have to experience her live. I was lucky to be in audience as she played this music in many occasions in Germany and Swiss. It is just unbelievable how she master this music.
@@faramohaj7631 That's really my point in a way: 'live' is authentic in a way that 'recording ' is not. The recordings are very impressive, but I'd reserve final judgement about a musician until I've heard them live. Failing that, a 'live' video tells you more than the edited composite we have here. I hope she comes to London sometime soon, so that we can experience her live. I'll definitely go!
you know what fascinates me about Alkan? his pieces grow, grow, grow and grow in an unstoppable way in sonority and intensity. when you think it reached climax, there's one more soon. when you think the piano can't sound fuller, texture gets even thicker in a much greater effect than before. Alkan is the piano with NO LIMITS! A master!
A virtuoso if there ever was one. Demonstrates a compositional mastery and brilliance that is unparalleled
Alkan also loved, and wrote music for, the "pedal piano". Which allowed even more textures, sonorities, and intensity, by enabling bass register notes to be played with the feet as well, like on an organ. The instrument just never caught on.
@@MrLextune yes!
@@pleasedpopper4521 his stricture is quite classical and restrict. I call him "Beethoven on acid" 🤣
@@LuisKolodin lmao quite literally. Like he made psychedelic sounding music centuries before the conception of Trance music
Definitely one of the cleanest, and most musical performances I've heard of this movement. Very interesting! Bravo...
It makes me very happy that younger pianists are taking Alkan seriously. It's such a breath of fresh air, a walk away from the beaten track. Alkan was a very capable composer of unique genius. Thanks for this wonderful interpretation, Schaghajegh.
Anyone who is able to perform it is a kind of a god to me. this piece, and especially this movement, is one of the most difficult piano pieces ever written in the romantic repertoire. Bravo!
Wonderful piece and I'm so pleased to see you are playing more of Alkan's music. It is also encouraging to see more female professionals taking on this repertoire! Brava!
What a breathtaking and brilliant performance! Bravo!!
This is a great performance! It's clear that she puts an extraordinarily lot of effort into the practice of this movement. The clarity of her playing never lets up, and every passage is so carefully thought-out and executed -- to the point where she brings out certain colors, sonorities, and effects that I've never heard from any other performance/recording of this piece. The same applies to her recording of the entire Concerto on her CD. No note is ignored. And that's REALLY saying something for a work that is so long and so difficult to even play at all!
I recently bought her CD and enjoyed reading her liner notes, which detail how she and her brother were, at a young age, introduced to Alkan by their piano teacher. It also gives a brief explanation of each piece on the CD and her reasoning for choosing each one, which I appreciated. We have Alkan's most-well-known work (the Concerto from the Op.39 Etudes), a first-recording (Etude alla Barbaro); one of Alkan's last works (Toccatina, Op.75); and a well-chosen selection from his Op.63 Esquisses, each demonstrating a different aspect of Alkan's writing. The entire album was well-worth my purchase!
I couldn't help but notice, though -- and this is SUPER, SUPER nitpicky -- she misread the 2 triple-sharps in the Concerto. (They are at about 8:10 and 9:34 in the left hand, each the 3rd note of the 6-note run.) It's consistent across both performances, both this video and on the CD, so it's clearly a misreading, not a mistake. Again, not AT ALL a big deal, especially since the notation around that whole passage is confusing anyway. I just like listening for those triple-sharps ever since I heard they were in the score. (Just look at my profile pic, haha! I'm fascinated by them!)
great comment, thank you!
I love the triple sharps, too. I develop music software, and many programs don't show triple sharps correctly, but I made sure our program does :D
I'll have to check the recording out, thanks for the recommendation and great description.
Up until a few years ago, i basically owned every Alkan recording in existence. Now they are starting to be too numerous for that, thankfully :)
Thank you for your response! What is the name of the music software you develop? I may look into it!
@@alkankondo89 One of our projects is OpenSheetMusicDisplay, a free and open source MusicXML renderer for the browser. If you go to opensheetmusicdisplay.org/ and click on the Demo link, you can click on select score and select the OSMD Function Test - Accidentals, where it has triple sharp and triple flat ^^
Also, we develop apps, PhonicScore for Android, and PracticeBird for iOS. Both can also render and play back MusicXML, and give you feedback on your playing, scroll the score automatically, and otherwise help practicing.
Could hear Mrs. Nosrati yesterday evening in the "Kammermusiksaal" of the "Deutschlandfunk" in Cologne, playing Bach and...the concerto for piano solo of Alkan. Absolutely wonderful and breathtaking, what a technique and understanding of the music!Just amazing!!!
This is just perfect, simply unmatched!
Played with absolutely breathtaking virtuosity and fascinating sound!!! Doubtless the greatest performance of this gigantic masterwork i've ever heard and i know meanwhile many of them
@Enescu no
@Enescu 8 months 😡
@Enescu stru
Camera man quit zooming damn. One or two is enough. Amazing performance tho wow
congratulations for a sensitive performance of Allegretto alla Barbaresca. the difficult of this piece is outstanding, not only technical but very difficult musically.
I like this.
Like
I am stunned!
Ahhh that's my favourite concerto. It truly something new to me and Alkans art is just takes your soul forever
Wow! Great virtuosity! Powerful and elegant :-)
Finally a good performance of the 3rd movement.
What a strong composition and an absolute gem of a performance
very stable performance! nice and warm sound :)
This performance is just out of this world. Amazing stuff!
again! I haven't listened to your performance for a while... it always fascinantes me! BRAVO!!!!!
Very clear sound! Great performance ❤️
Beautifully done.
Incredible playing!
One of my favourite renditions other than Hemelin and Paul Wee. Slower but full of clarity!
Woah, brilliant!
great! brava!!!
Wow.
You are everywhere I go
Awesome! More Alkan, please!
I dream with your Alkan grand sonata.
genius
C’est fascinant !
Wow just wow.
Alkanの音楽に栄光あれ
Interprétation absolument remarquable, quelle lisibilité 😊
Very intelligent performance
Bravissimomamente ;-)
fascinating
nice.
Good
No one:simply Piano after 3 weeks. Honey how are playing so good I’ve been using simply piano for 3 weeks:/
7:32
Fantastic rendering here, only reservation is the humorous moments are missed or glossed over. Hamelin does a better job in bringing those out. Still A+ on everything else.
A lot of comments refer to this video as a 'performance'. But is it really? The playing is fantastic and the music comes across very well indeed. But I take 'performance' to mean one continuous unedited play-through of the piece in front of an audience (which exceptionally might be just the performer). We don't know if the audio has been edited, and the constant cutting of the video means we can't know for sure.
I don't say this to detract from SN's amazing musicianship - her Bach recordings are as interesting and successful as the Alkan recordings - but I feel that videos of this kind are a bit misleading. The constant shifts of perpective, camera angle etc. are obviously designed to make the experience visually 'interesting' but at the same time they reduce a sense of continuity, make it easy to edit the audio to remove 'imperfections' like split notes, and in the end create a suspicion of inauthenticity: the kind of inauthenticity you associate with marketing or promotional material. Personally I find this a bit of a turn off.
I wonder what others think?
It is not only her recording of this master piece which is astonishing. You have to experience her live. I was lucky to be in audience as she played this music in many occasions in Germany and Swiss. It is just unbelievable how she master this music.
@@faramohaj7631 That's really my point in a way: 'live' is authentic in a way that 'recording ' is not. The recordings are very impressive, but I'd reserve final judgement about a musician until I've heard them live. Failing that, a 'live' video tells you more than the edited composite we have here.
I hope she comes to London sometime soon, so that we can experience her live. I'll definitely go!