Alkan: Grande sonate 'Les quatre âges', Sonatine, Le festin d'Esope [Import]

Charles-Valentin Alkan (Artist), Marc-André Hamelin (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (August 22, 1995)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Import
• Label: Hyperion UK
• ASIN: B000002ZW4
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #53,822 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #36 in Music > Classical > Forms & Genres > Etudes

Track Listings

1. Grande Sonate 'Les Quatre Ages', Op. 33: 20 ans. Tres vite

2. Grande Sonate 'Les Quatre Ages', Op. 33: 30 ans, Quasi-Faust. Assez vite

3. Grande Sonate 'Les Quatre Ages', Op. 33: 40 ans, un menage heureux. Lentement

4. Grande Sonate 'Les Quatre Ages', Op. 33: 50 ans, Promethee enchaine. Extremement lent

5. Sonatine, Op. 61: Allegro vivace

6. Sonatine, Op. 61: Allegramente

7. Sonatine, Op. 61: Scherzo-Minuet

8. Sonatine, Op. 61: Tempo giusto - Coda

9. Barcarolle, Op. 65, No. 6

10. Le Festin d'Esope, Op. 39, No. 12

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

29 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best solo piano recordings ever made., May 22, 2005

By 

Pete "Pete" (North America) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Alkan: Grande sonate 'Les quatre âges', Sonatine, Le festin d'Esope (Audio CD)

This disc is totally astonishing. One you start listening to it you will not be able to stop. The Grande Sonate is one of the most beautiful, moving, complex pieces of music for solo piano ever written. Hamelin brings it to life like no one else can. If you have never listened to Alkan, this is a fine introduction to some of the greatest (and most forgotten) piano music ever composed. And if you have never listened to Hamelin - this is probably his greatest work ever. The more you listen to the Grande Sonate the more you discover in it. You wait for those dramatic, breathtaking moments. You marvel at how two human hands can produce these sounds through the piano, and you continually find more subtlies and nuances in this materpiece. Words fail in describing how great this recording is. If you love piano music - get it. It you love Alkan it is truly a must.

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Inimitable Masterpiece, June 30, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Alkan: Grande sonate 'Les quatre âges', Sonatine, Le festin d'Esope (Audio CD)

There are special moments in life when you remember exactly what you were doing when it happened. I remember exactly what I was doing when I first heard Bruckner's Eight (Guilini), Mahler's Second (Bernstein), Liszt Sonata (Horowitz), Gaspard de la Nuit (Michelangeli), and I can still hear to this day Richter's Schuman Symphonic Etudes, just to name a few. They were all life-changing events. My friend and I were having dinner when Hamelin's Grande Sonata appeared from the radio. Wow! I remember asking, "What crazy person had the nerve to compose this?", and more importantly, "Who on earth had the gall to record it?" Up to this faithful day in 1995, I had never heard of Hamelin or Alkan.
On this disc, Hamelin plays with so much elan, control, and technical ease that it leaves you breathless. Although the legendary Raymond Lewenthal and the late Ronald Smith have to be commended for their efforts in popularizing Alkan's much-neglected music, I believe Hamelin and this disc has been even more influential. I don't know if Alkan playing on this disc will ever be matched. This is certainly one of the greatest albums in history and should be part of the collection of all true classical music fans.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hamelin at the height of his techniqie!, September 4, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Alkan: Grande sonate 'Les quatre âges', Sonatine, Le festin d'Esope (Audio CD)

Wow. Marc-Andre Hamelin conquers yet more of Alkan's monstrously diffucult works. This is by far the best recording of EACH work on here in my opinion to date, and one can only hope that Hamelin continues like this with even more Alkan. FINISH THE ENTIRE OP. 39, MR. HAMEILN! THE WORLD NEEDS IT! Umm... yes. The Sonata is far above that of Reach, Smith, or even Lewenthal, and the Sonatina, more crisp than I have ever encountered. Hameiln's playing is also more energetic than that of his debut Alkan recording, the Concerto, and the sound quality is MUCH better. His playing of 'Festin' is great. It has my ideal tempos, as well as true character that not even Jack Gibbons could attain. If Hamelin continues recording Alkan like this, it will definitely be a great joy of music fans for years to come.