Customer Reviews

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

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

Marc-Andre Hamelin is an astounding virtuoso. He gives life to Alkan's works, which I hear for the very first time! It is really mind-boggling how he succeeds in tackling the Augean stables of the eight-part fugue at the end of Quasi-Faust!!!
It is no wonder, then that even Liszt was afraid to compete with Alkan, whom he deemed a superior virtuoso to himself. Alkan's music in itself has a tremendous intrinsic value, which, if one can feel, describes to such depth the essence of the human soul!

REMARKABLE! Fantastic pianist! Beyond any superlative! I have to tell you, I usually give tough reviews, but this CD leaves nothing to be desired. The cleaness and stability made me pull out other recordings by many notable pianists with similar passage work and I was amazed to find he plays clearer, faster, more precise, and well balanced than all of them. It's a pity he doesn't record much standard music.

This is the first Marc-Andre Hamelin CD I bought and was I amazed!!!! I am also a pianist and to hear him go through such immensely difficult works with ease and full of energy makes me so jealous! Even though he plays through with ease, he always enlightens certain phrases or dynamics etc. which make the music sound very unique! The highlight on this disc, for me, is the Sonatine. He plays with fire, passion, rhythmic drive and a sensual cantabile where necessary. The highlight of the Sonatine is definately the end - where it just ends from such a huge climax into a huge fortissimo chord - it is spine-chilling!

I must admit, I did laugh at Le Festin de Esope - it is a really humurous work full of interesting variations on an 8 bar theme. His interpretaion of the work is clearly felt and you begin to feel what he feels.

And finally I have to discuss Quasi-Faust, from the Grande Sonata. The technical demands are so extreme, that I'm not surprised it does not get played often. You can hear the difficulties, but Mr Hamelin always has them well within his reach. He can really make you cry as you hear the different, magical melodies being uncovered and the central climax with thos MASSIVE chords is breathtaking!

What amzed me most about this CD is that he reorded it on only 2 days!! How does he do it?? The engineers need to be congratulated and performing the maginificent task of keeping each register of the piano sounding similar. The bass is never too heavy, and I was expecting the sound to become distorted in the climax in Quasi-Faust, but it was just immaculate! Well done!!!!!

What are you doing still reading this review? - go and click on the 'buy' button!

Bon apetit!
Gareth Ross

Alkan's time has arrived. It is a mystery to me that he's not as celebrated as Chopin or Schumann, his near contemporaries. His music is beastly to play; perhaps that's a part of it. Marc-André Hamelin is a rare combination of impeccable chops and real musicality. And he is the most persuasive champion of Alkan's music before the public today. This CD is a must-have for any serious lover of 19th century piano music.

There's not that much I can add--Hamelin's virtuosity speaks for itself. As a pianist, I understand just how difficult this music is, and the ease with which Hamelin plays it is breathtaking. I don't believe that there is a single wrong note on this CD--out of hundreds of thousands of them.
That said, the best piece here is not the Grande Sonate, but "Le Festin d'Esope;" it is the only piece which Hamelin truly seems to relish. In this recording, Hamelin the "super-virtuoso" is revealed at his mind-numbing best, where technical perfection is coupled with a very keen and intelligent musical esthetique.
The rest of the CD, however, is comparatively dry. There are, as said, no mistakes anywhere, but (especially in the sonata) the interpretation of those flawless notes is lacking.
All in all, though, this album is more than worth the money it costs; it should be in every serious music-lover's collection!

One can only wonder to what extent Alkan would be part of our mental musical furniture today, if he had only been more of a publicity hound. He may not have been quite so Romantic as his 19th century contemporaries, but his music would certainly have remained impressed upon the times if he had only persevered in his musical career. As it is, we can only marvel at these compositions, with their parts requiring such amazing feats of prestidigitation.

Which is not at all to say that this music is just virtuoso flash. "The Four Ages" makes its points all the the more clearly as the tempo slows down in each movement. And like the liner notes say, the "Le festin d'Esope" shows a wonderful Jewish influence--it wouldn't sound much out of place in an overture to _Fiddler On The Roof_! But, some will object, isn't this music terribly "programmatic"? Yes, ain't it great? In the "festin", I think I can hear the part where the bilious revelers throw up!

I thoroughly enjoyed this disc, and look forward to exploring more of Alkan's work.

I had never heard before any music by Alkan or had I heard Marc-Andre Hamelin play until I heard him on Performance Today. I was completely overwhelmed. I have never heard such virtuosity on a piano, not even Horowitz. Moreover, his interpretation of Alkan was superb. I am now looking for any recording by Hamelin. He also composes and there is more to hope for. You really haven't experienced piano playing until you've heard Marc-Andre Hamelin play Alkan.