He didn't promote his own most significant pieces in his own performances. Later pianists including his illegitimate son Elie Delaborde, Isidor Philipp, Egon Petri and even Claudio Arrau played his works but none of them ever made any recordings of it, except for Petri whose performance of the Symphony for piano solo was recorded on reel to reel tape in a practice room of Mills College in the early 1950s. A composer's success partially depends on his aptness at self-promotion. Chopin, Liszt, Beethoven and Mozart were all extraverts who were comfortable being at the centre of attention and who got their music heard as a result, wether it was at the concert stage or in the salons of wealthy music lovers. Alkan was extremely introverted and when he got back to the concert stage later in life he still didn't play any of his major works in concert.
@@classicallpvault8251 Yes, I guess its easy to forget that many composers from the past were probably less social or had anxiety issues just as some musicians do today which is why we dont hear about many of them...
Such an indefatigable heart-dedicated scholar/pianist pro Alkan as was Lewenthal, I think then deserves some survey attention paid to what he recorded de ce maître français insaisissable, so to say. All about Lewenthal might fairly be decorated, I believe, as being 'grand.' To such an advent, I am sure, we all look greatly-forward dear Dave.
One should also mention Stephanie McCallum's significant recordings. She was a student of Ronald Smith and gave major public recitals of Alkan at Wigmore Hall in the 1980s, made the first recording of the Op.35 and was the first to record both the Op.35 & Op.39 studies. She's a fabulous, fabulous pianist. I attended one of her masterclasses years ago (audience not pupil) and she was so excited when I went up to her to talk about Alkan.
I could have been a student of Ronald Smith's. When I was 14, I was sent to school to the King's School, Canterbury, a high level English "public school" (expensive private school, that is). I found almost immediately that it had a massive elective music program, partly to do with being connected with Canterbury Cathedral, and as I was just then falling in love with music, I tried to take advantage. But within a couple of years, my family fell apart and I was pulled. It was during that period that I learned about Alkan - from a newspaper article. And it was not until many years later that I found out that the Director of Music at King's, then and for a long time after, was one Ronald Smith. At least I can say for him that I know for a fact that a musical education at King's in his time was as good as the best conservatories. And it must be in part thanks to him that we got the most extraordinary visiting concerts, including a Russian chamber ensemble and a young Steven Bishop-Kovacevitch.
Marc-André Hamelin's recording of 2006 (his later one) is a breathtaking performance. The overall sound and the performance are so good that the recording almost seems as if it's been somehow doctored to the point of being practically otherworldly. It's much more of a happening on disc than it is just another example of excellent recording.
Brilliant video. I can’t believe I found someone who speaks so fondly and meticulously about THE Alkan op 39 no 8. When I started learning piano 3 years ago, one of the biggest questions I asked myself was “what is the greatest piano piece of all time?” And I’ve yet to come across anything that even holds a CANDLE to op 39 no 8. Not gaspard del nuit. Not Islamey. Not Mephistos waltz. Alkans etude no 8 easily blows all of them out of the water. Alkan is the literal god of piano technique and virtuosity. Truly the greatest in every way shape and form and MORE PEOPLE SHOULD KNOW!
Alkan is a marvel. An absolute marvel. My epiphany was the Grande Sonate by Hamelin (still the one closer to my heart... that second theme in the first movement, my God!) but the Concerto is a stunning work. And I think that David really hit the jackpot describing Alkan: form and emotion, never ever so finely balanced in the romantic piano repertoire. Oh, and definitely check out the Maltempo discs: he’s really something.
I go back to the RCA LPs by Raymond Lewenthal (Symphony, Le festin d'Esope, etc.) and John Ogden (Concerto) -- definitely music to have my fellow young classical nerd friends (both of them) immediately come over and hear! Hamelin is an incredible artist indeed. We had him on our music series, and about three-quarters of the way through Medtner's "Night Wind" Sonata -- sort of like the Liszt rewritten by Rachmaninoff but even more so -- we noticed tiny shadows flitting over the stage. A bat had gotten in and was flying around the hall while the music heaved and swelled. An omen? A vistor from the nether world? We never found out, because the poor critter died during intermission. Memorable, to say the least. Thanks, Dave!
I go back to Raymond Lewenthal in the mid-1960s, too, when he was vigorously promoting Alkan before anyone else in New York to some controversy from some critics of the day. Though he unfortunately never completed recording all of the composer's works, I still love to listen to his old recordings from time to time, particularly the Symphony, for his interpretations that were highly virtuosic in his day. Hamelin and Wee are of course way beyond him in technical excellence. This presentation was excellent and really warmed my heart for a composer I have particularly loved since I was fifteen years old.
Many years ago someone shared me a bunch of short excerpts of Alkan recordings by Smith, Hamelin, McCallum and Lewenthal to demonstrate that Hamelin's tempo and polyphony were less consistent/clear than others. Another pianist has commented that Hamelin makes pauses before certain passages that others don't - which is borne out in these excerpts. Of course it takes a fine reading with the score to notice these, and I don't think they detract from Hamelin's overall extraordinary pianism.
I'm an Alkan fanatic and have been so since my discovery of Hamelin's Alkan recordings, they are a marvel! Paul Wee's disc is the most revelatory recording to come along in a long time too - incredible music.
Did they ever re-release John Ogdon's old RCA recording of the Concerto on CD? That was where I first heard this fabulous music back in the early 1970s.
I have that on CD as part of the great pianists of the 20th century series by Phillips. Enjoyable recording though not as tightly controlled for me as more modern offerings
There are plenty of excellent recordings of Alkan's music nowadays and if people are aware of the younger generation of pianists, they should not only check out Vincenzo Maltempo and Yui Morishita, but also MARK VINER, who is very much following in the footsteps of Smith and Lewenthal I think. A great pianist who is hoping to record the entire output for piano by Alkan.
This is a pretty petty point but I'm afraid I have to contest the claim that Liszt died fairly young - his dates are 1811-1886 (74 years old at death) compared to Alkan's 1813 - 29 March 1888 (also 74 years old at death). Great content nonetheless (have really enjoyed all of your videos) - mentioning Hamelin reminds me of a suggestion for your channel: comparing Medtner sonata cycles.
@@DavesClassicalGuide 1:50 - 'unlike Liszt or Chopin, who died conveniently young, he died at a fairly ripe old age' (perhaps I should have used the negation 'not at a fairly ripe old age' rather than 'fairly young' [I certainly avoided 'very young'], but that's certainly what I was implying. I'm sure it was just a slip of the tongue).
Dave, great review! Have you heard Hamelin’s live recording of the final movement from 1987 (it’s on UA-cam)? Though the audio quality isn’t great, from a technical perspective, it makes all other recordings sound pedestrian. It may very well be the single highest, recorded display of virtuosity at the piano - I highly recommend checking it out if you haven’t heard it already
What is your opinion on “les quatre âges” I like 20 ans and 30 ans the most, but they’re all good. Also “Song of the Madwoman on the seashore” is a very interesting piece, so different from anything else in the Romantic era
Alkan deserved to be more well-known indeed. I own the Brilliant Classics comprehensive box, which I find wonderful. Incidentally, the story about his death seems to be spurious, I have read somewhere, maybe in a French book edited by Brigitte François-Sappey.
It's great to see a good number of fellow Alkaniacs here in the comments. I did a presentation on teaching from the Esquisses for his bicentenary and am very fond of his music. Thanks for the enjoyable overview! In a lengthy and fascinating interview, M.-A. H. mentions making the remake of the concerto to help with Hyperion's court fees... and throwing his back out just before making the recording of the symphony! ethaniverson.com/interviews/interview-with-marc-andre-hamelin/ Additionally, the Alkan Society has many fascinating articles. A favorite of mine from 2003 discusses Alkan's Jewish roots. www.alkansociety.org/Publications/Society-Bulletins/bulletin61.pdf
There's a lot of fine and exciting recordings of the Concerto, but I find that none of them really give me feeling of consistent energy of Alkan's grand vision. There's just so much "stuff" in the work, as is often with Alkan.
@@4candles Yes I have. Paul Wee's recording is incredibly good, mind blowingly played, and but I find him at times not quite having that extra inch of sensitivity or tenderness and sometimes I find him too straightforward. Generally I like Gibbons and Hamelin for different reasons. And even then I still feel like there's more for the music to give. By no means am I knowledgeable in Alkan, but I think it's due to the extreme difficulties in interpreting and performing Alkan's gargantuan sized hyper virtuosic movements that are still at their heart, classical forms. Again I am no authority and these are just personal feelings.
Alcan is not a dog food. Alpo is a dog food. Alcan is a spinoff of Alcoa, an mining and aluminum company. Anyway, Alkan has very interesting piano works, and I'm enjoying listening to some of your suggestions.
@@DavesClassicalGuide Couldn't agree more! Both composers were looking to achieve different things, but it's impossible to reason with people who only hear what they want to hear.
How did this guy get left out of mainstream??,,,,total Genius
He didn't promote his own most significant pieces in his own performances. Later pianists including his illegitimate son Elie Delaborde, Isidor Philipp, Egon Petri and even Claudio Arrau played his works but none of them ever made any recordings of it, except for Petri whose performance of the Symphony for piano solo was recorded on reel to reel tape in a practice room of Mills College in the early 1950s. A composer's success partially depends on his aptness at self-promotion. Chopin, Liszt, Beethoven and Mozart were all extraverts who were comfortable being at the centre of attention and who got their music heard as a result, wether it was at the concert stage or in the salons of wealthy music lovers. Alkan was extremely introverted and when he got back to the concert stage later in life he still didn't play any of his major works in concert.
@@classicallpvault8251 Yes, I guess its easy to forget that many composers from the past were probably less social or had anxiety issues just as some musicians do today which is why we dont hear about many of them...
Such an indefatigable heart-dedicated scholar/pianist pro Alkan as was Lewenthal, I think then deserves some survey attention paid to what he recorded de ce maître français insaisissable, so to say.
All about Lewenthal might fairly be decorated, I believe, as being 'grand.'
To such an advent, I am sure, we all look greatly-forward dear Dave.
One should also mention Stephanie McCallum's significant recordings. She was a student of Ronald Smith and gave major public recitals of Alkan at Wigmore Hall in the 1980s, made the first recording of the Op.35 and was the first to record both the Op.35 & Op.39 studies. She's a fabulous, fabulous pianist. I attended one of her masterclasses years ago (audience not pupil) and she was so excited when I went up to her to talk about Alkan.
I could have been a student of Ronald Smith's. When I was 14, I was sent to school to the King's School, Canterbury, a high level English "public school" (expensive private school, that is). I found almost immediately that it had a massive elective music program, partly to do with being connected with Canterbury Cathedral, and as I was just then falling in love with music, I tried to take advantage. But within a couple of years, my family fell apart and I was pulled. It was during that period that I learned about Alkan - from a newspaper article. And it was not until many years later that I found out that the Director of Music at King's, then and for a long time after, was one Ronald Smith. At least I can say for him that I know for a fact that a musical education at King's in his time was as good as the best conservatories. And it must be in part thanks to him that we got the most extraordinary visiting concerts, including a Russian chamber ensemble and a young Steven Bishop-Kovacevitch.
Marc-André Hamelin's recording of 2006 (his later one) is a breathtaking performance. The overall sound and the performance are so good that the recording almost seems as if it's been somehow doctored to the point of being practically otherworldly. It's much more of a happening on disc than it is just another example of excellent recording.
Brilliant video. I can’t believe I found someone who speaks so fondly and meticulously about THE Alkan op 39 no 8.
When I started learning piano 3 years ago, one of the biggest questions I asked myself was “what is the greatest piano piece of all time?” And I’ve yet to come across anything that even holds a CANDLE to op 39 no 8. Not gaspard del nuit. Not Islamey. Not Mephistos waltz. Alkans etude no 8 easily blows all of them out of the water. Alkan is the literal god of piano technique and virtuosity. Truly the greatest in every way shape and form and MORE PEOPLE SHOULD KNOW!
Thank you for introducing me to Paul Wee's Alkan version. Wow, amazing.
Alkan is a marvel. An absolute marvel. My epiphany was the Grande Sonate by Hamelin (still the one closer to my heart... that second theme in the first movement, my God!) but the Concerto is a stunning work. And I think that David really hit the jackpot describing Alkan: form and emotion, never ever so finely balanced in the romantic piano repertoire. Oh, and definitely check out the Maltempo discs: he’s really something.
I go back to the RCA LPs by Raymond Lewenthal (Symphony, Le festin d'Esope, etc.) and John Ogden (Concerto) -- definitely music to have my fellow young classical nerd friends (both of them) immediately come over and hear! Hamelin is an incredible artist indeed. We had him on our music series, and about three-quarters of the way through Medtner's "Night Wind" Sonata -- sort of like the Liszt rewritten by Rachmaninoff but even more so -- we noticed tiny shadows flitting over the stage. A bat had gotten in and was flying around the hall while the music heaved and swelled. An omen? A vistor from the nether world? We never found out, because the poor critter died during intermission. Memorable, to say the least. Thanks, Dave!
I go back to Raymond Lewenthal in the mid-1960s, too, when he was vigorously promoting Alkan before anyone else in New York to some controversy from some critics of the day. Though he unfortunately never completed recording all of the composer's works, I still love to listen to his old recordings from time to time, particularly the Symphony, for his interpretations that were highly virtuosic in his day. Hamelin and Wee are of course way beyond him in technical excellence. This presentation was excellent and really warmed my heart for a composer I have particularly loved since I was fifteen years old.
Many years ago someone shared me a bunch of short excerpts of Alkan recordings by Smith, Hamelin, McCallum and Lewenthal to demonstrate that Hamelin's tempo and polyphony were less consistent/clear than others. Another pianist has commented that Hamelin makes pauses before certain passages that others don't - which is borne out in these excerpts. Of course it takes a fine reading with the score to notice these, and I don't think they detract from Hamelin's overall extraordinary pianism.
Me three, been an Alkanhead since the mid-60's, RL's two and Ogdon's of the Concerto were the first discs too.
I'm an Alkan fanatic and have been so since my discovery of Hamelin's Alkan recordings, they are a marvel! Paul Wee's disc is the most revelatory recording to come along in a long time too - incredible music.
Did they ever re-release John Ogdon's old RCA recording of the Concerto on CD? That was where I first heard this fabulous music back in the early 1970s.
I have that on CD as part of the great pianists of the 20th century series by Phillips. Enjoyable recording though not as tightly controlled for me as more modern offerings
It's in a box set with his other RCA recordings.
I'm surprised you didn't mention Gibbons. He's a legendary Alkan interpreter. You should give him a listen,
I've heard him. A legend in his own mind, maybe.
Hey Dave,
interesting opinion. Could you please elaborate?
There are plenty of excellent recordings of Alkan's music nowadays and if people are aware of the younger generation of pianists, they should not only check out Vincenzo Maltempo and Yui Morishita, but also MARK VINER, who is very much following in the footsteps of Smith and Lewenthal I think. A great pianist who is hoping to record the entire output for piano by Alkan.
This is a pretty petty point but I'm afraid I have to contest the claim that Liszt died fairly young - his dates are 1811-1886 (74 years old at death) compared to Alkan's 1813 - 29 March 1888 (also 74 years old at death). Great content nonetheless (have really enjoyed all of your videos) - mentioning Hamelin reminds me of a suggestion for your channel: comparing Medtner sonata cycles.
I didn't say that Liszt died young. I said that Chopin did.
@@DavesClassicalGuide 1:50 - 'unlike Liszt or Chopin, who died conveniently young, he died at a fairly ripe old age' (perhaps I should have used the negation 'not at a fairly ripe old age' rather than 'fairly young' [I certainly avoided 'very young'], but that's certainly what I was implying. I'm sure it was just a slip of the tongue).
Dave, great review! Have you heard Hamelin’s live recording of the final movement from 1987 (it’s on UA-cam)? Though the audio quality isn’t great, from a technical perspective, it makes all other recordings sound pedestrian. It may very well be the single highest, recorded display of virtuosity at the piano - I highly recommend checking it out if you haven’t heard it already
What is your opinion on “les quatre âges” I like 20 ans and 30 ans the most, but they’re all good. Also “Song of the Madwoman on the seashore” is a very interesting piece, so different from anything else in the Romantic era
Alkan deserved to be more well-known indeed. I own the Brilliant Classics comprehensive box, which I find wonderful. Incidentally, the story about his death seems to be spurious, I have read somewhere, maybe in a French book edited by Brigitte François-Sappey.
If may be spurious, but if it's more fun than the reality I'll stick with it.
It's great to see a good number of fellow Alkaniacs here in the comments. I did a presentation on teaching from the Esquisses for his bicentenary and am very fond of his music. Thanks for the enjoyable overview!
In a lengthy and fascinating interview, M.-A. H. mentions making the remake of the concerto to help with Hyperion's court fees... and throwing his back out just before making the recording of the symphony!
ethaniverson.com/interviews/interview-with-marc-andre-hamelin/
Additionally, the Alkan Society has many fascinating articles. A favorite of mine from 2003 discusses Alkan's Jewish roots.
www.alkansociety.org/Publications/Society-Bulletins/bulletin61.pdf
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Welcome aboard!
There's a lot of fine and exciting recordings of the Concerto, but I find that none of them really give me feeling of consistent energy of Alkan's grand vision. There's just so much "stuff" in the work, as is often with Alkan.
Have you heard Paul Wee's recording? Also, Jack Gibbons' live recital in Carnegie Hall playing the Concerto is incredible.
@@4candles Yes I have. Paul Wee's recording is incredibly good, mind blowingly played, and but I find him at times not quite having that extra inch of sensitivity or tenderness and sometimes I find him too straightforward. Generally I like Gibbons and Hamelin for different reasons. And even then I still feel like there's more for the music to give. By no means am I knowledgeable in Alkan, but I think it's due to the extreme difficulties in interpreting and performing Alkan's gargantuan sized hyper virtuosic movements that are still at their heart, classical forms. Again I am no authority and these are just personal feelings.
@@RabidCh try Yui Morishita
Are there any recorded piano works which satisfy your tastes?
Can you do a review on the Les Mois recordings?
Alcan is not a dog food. Alpo is a dog food. Alcan is a spinoff of Alcoa, an mining and aluminum company. Anyway, Alkan has very interesting piano works, and I'm enjoying listening to some of your suggestions.
I didn't say he was. i said it rhymed with Calcan, which IS a dog food. Woof.
Which movement is your favorite?
Dear Mr. Hurwitz,
If Alkan needs 120 pages to try to produce a masterpiece, Chopin does it successfully in a few bars.
You obviously don't know your Alkan.
@@DavesClassicalGuide Couldn't agree more! Both composers were looking to achieve different things, but it's impossible to reason with people who only hear what they want to hear.
@@DavesClassicalGuide So Liszt is trash but this is a masterpiece? The Liszt sonata is trash compared to this? I disagree completely.
You don’t know alkan
@@armandodelromero9968 who the hell said that??