Customer Reviews

Charles-Valentin Alkan: Concerto For Solo Piano

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is an incredible piece of music performed with style and flair. Rarely do you find a piece of such power, brilliance, beauty, and technical complexity. Alkan's Concerto for Solo Piano is among the most awe-inspiring pieces in the piano repertoire, and Hamelin plays it perfectly. I had never heard of Alkan until I saw Mr. Hamelin perform this. My jaw hit the floor when he started playing and didn't recover itself until the conclusion of the third movement, an hour later. The recording does the live performance credit (though a recording can never truly capture the energy of a live performance). The only qualms I have are that the recording is not always perfect, and the Concerto is the only piece on the CD. However, this does not detract enough to make it not warrant five stars and you will be hard pressed to find someone play this better than Hamelin.

Hamelin or Alkan fans shouldn't bother reading the rest of this review. This is an essential disk. Buy it.

If Hamelin receives any negative criticism at all, it seems to follow a regular formula: his technique is divine, but the interpretation is too rigid, fake, almost inhumane. In nearly every case I simply think the exact opposite. Yes, Hamelin's technique is divine, perhaps the greatest ever recorded, and yes, his interpretation sometimes sounds almost too perfect, but I cannot see this as a fault. If anything at all, his interpretations are sublime-- he is able to take music which may seem mundane and commonplace and create sound so beautiful, sometimes I struggle to take it all in. In practical words, his understanding of long form compositional structure (as the first movement clearly demonstrates- almost 30 minutes of sonata-allegro form) is so precise that each note maintains its excitement and importance from the very first to the last. His control of color is exhibited both in the slow lyrical parts as well as the places of incredible technical challenge (something you will not hear on ANY other recording). This disk has only one minor (minor minor minor) drawback - it was not recorded on Hamelin's present label, Hyperion and therefore cannot benefit from the tremendous sound quality Hyperion has consistently engineered. I do hope Hamelin re-records this as he has a number of other pieces so that it is included in the Hyperion catalogue.

And a bit on Alkan: the man was a master. If you wonder why you haven't heard of him, google his name and read a bio, its a fascinating story. Compositional revelations aside, his music is honest and soulful, often ironic, and always strangely familiar. There was a lot to this man and his music has much to say.

There is no true words or explanations of the radical difficulty of this luminous and freakishly complex work for piano. Hamelin is simply gifted beyond human description. His Hands must be made of Adamantium and his memory and facility must be just this side of God-Like. Happily able to hear him play Live with with DSO (Detroit Symphony) i know that his musicianship and tecnique are no fluke or Studio wizardry, the man is a Fabulous Quirk of nature and God bless him for it! This Recording is by far one of my Number one Recordings (along with Hamelin's Performance of the REMARKABLE Alkan Concerti and Henselt Concerto on Hyperion.) I think in Facility no other Pianist Matches him, he has no Equal and as a Composer, Alkan is without peer, Even Chopin's Etudes seem like exercises in childlike pedancy compared to Alkans Inspired and Incendiary Genius! LOVE THIS RECORDING! YOU MUST BUY! YOU MUST OWN! JUST BUY IT! NOW!!

Not a day goes by when I don't hear this masterpiece in my head. This is a stunning work and even more amazing performance. The only problem I have is that this was recorded on a Yamaha, which I truly feel is the wrong instrument for this work. This will bother only the purist and fans of the Steinway (Hamburg) sound. The only recording that comes remotely close to this is the Ogdon recording. This is a miraculous performance that everyone should own. A legendary performance. PLEASE BUY!

There simply cannot be enough praise for this extraordinary recording of one of the most unfairly neglected masterpieces of music of all time. I do not want to undermine my writing with exaggerated use of superlatives--which anyway would not be capable of describing this strangely hidden treasure of priceless music and pianism. What Hamelin actually manages to accomplish with his only ten fingers is beyond reproach.

Pick any pianistic feature or trick--you will find them all in Alkan's masterpiece, executed by Hamelin to a degree of perfection most other pianists could only equal in their dreams. His absolute command and natural fluency of the music is not likely to be surpassed in the foreseeable future.

Indeed, Gibbon's ASV or Smith's EMI versions may well be worth acquiring--not for comparison, which simply would not make much sense, but for a better recorded piano sound. That is namely my only reservation about this disc--the fact that the recorded sound of the, alas, Yamaha instrument is terribly boxy and unnatural.

On this near 50-minute disc, Alkan and Hamelin redefine the notion of pianism--that is, what is physically possible to achieve, given one piano and two hands. I cannot see what could replace this desert island record, other than a Steinway/Hyperion remake in opulent sound.

APPENDIX: Since Hamelin's remake of the Alkan Concerto was released by Hyperion in September 2007, this desert island disc has indeed effectively been replaced. The remake not only features vastly superior near-demonstration sound but also greater delicacy and refinement.

In the Gay science , Nietzsche states : Every great human being exerts a retroactive force; for his sake all of history is placed in the balance again , and a thousand secrets of the past crawl out of their hiding place ...into his sunshine ...Perhaps the past is essentially undiscovered .

This Concerto is in itself a revelation ; one of the most original creations of the second half of the nineteenth century . The abundance of its melodic richness seems no equal in the literature for piano through those fifty years .

With the only exception of the Franz Liszt ` s Sonata in B it makes for any serious analyst to find such similar work . The epic and epicurean ; the fantasy and the imagination ; the obsessive élan and wealthy incandescence of contrasted melodic lines conform a work which may be well associated with the stormy and enraged waters of the best Turner paintings .

Alkan was called "the Berlioz of the piano" . Its opening and fascinating bravura theme is repeatedly such a magnifique obstinate is accompanied by bravura tremolos and sparkling
sparks of fevered pianism . There is grotesque humour and sinister tunes ; eloquent charm and unsurpassed shimmer .

In the Adagio the cynicism appears disguised under dark tonalities and gloomy arpeggios .

In the Allegretto alla barbaresca Alkan once more , turns his moods , and writes vigorous tour de force bars plenty of vibrating emotion . If you pay special attention you will distinguish distorted notes of the Hungarian Rhapsody No. 15 .

Only the masterful pianism of Mark Andrea Hamelin and his prodigious musicality made possible this performance resulted an undeniable artistic triumph.

Alkan's Concerto for Solo Piano Op. 39 is one of the greatest masterpieces of the Romantic piano literature and yet it is a victim of a horrible crime: neglect. Charles-Valentin Alkan, who is surely the most enigmatic composer in music history, was respected, admired, and even feared by his contemporaries. Anton Rubinstein had great admiration for Alkan and even dedicated his Fifth Piano Concerto to him. Hans von Bülow gave Alkan the famous appellation, "Berlioz of the piano." Franz Liszt thought Alkan's piano technique superior to his own and according to David Dubal, Liszt "once said that he was never nervous playing for anyone but Alkan."

The tragedy about Alkan's life and legacy is that, although he was esteemed by Chopin and Liszt, his compositions were totally ignored. Beyond that, his music had the reputation of being "bizarre and unplayable." It wasn't until Ferruccio Busoni and Egon Petri that Alkan's works found worthy champions. Busoni believed Alkan to be, like Chopin, Schumann, Brahms and Liszt, one of the greatest post-Beethoven piano composers. I am in the Busoni camp completely, especially after traversing so much of Alkan's music. The gigantic Concerto for Solo Piano of the Op. 39 Etudes deserves a place next to the other large-scale piano "greats": Beethoven's Hammerklavier and Liszt's Sonata in B minor. Alkan's entire Op. 39 is arguably one of the most original set of Etudes of all time. But Alkan's three movement Concerto is the crowning achievement of this set. The Concerto possesses all the traits of a normal piano concerto: tuttis and solos, lines for each instrument, an orchestral introduction, cadenzas... and yet Alkan refuses to enlist the aid of the orchestra in expressing this colossal music; he bravely challenges the edges of solo instrumental technique with only his beloved keyboard as his weapon.

It's necessary for the reader to understand that I adore Alkan and this particular work, but I must sadly give this particular recording three stars for the disastrous and lackluster performance by Marc-Andre Hamelin. This is the only Alkan recording that he has failed to deliver with his customary arsenal of superlative virtuosity, interpretative insight *and* emotion. The first movement is a musical canvas of epic brushstrokes and details of Romantic expression, but Hamelin chooses to approach this grand movement as if it was a Handel suite. The warm legato, sonorous turbulence and Romantic fire that Alkan's must needs in order to speak to us is absent in Hamelin's performance. In the second movement, a lamenting and sublimely beautiful work, Hamelin has neither rich articulation nor passion in his phrasing. The last movement fairs a little better, but although Hamelin's tempo and flawless virtuosity are awe-inspiring, he doesn't summon the drama and swelling dynamics that this movement needs. It saddens me to speak so harshly about Hamelin, a pianist whom I consider myself to be a fan of! He has outstripped every other performer when it comes to Alkan's other works like the Symphony for Solo Piano and the Grande Sonate. But his decision to play the Concerto for Solo Piano as if it were a Mozart piano concerto, full of an overwhelming and incessant staccato touch, does a disservice to this masterpiece of the piano literature.

Bottom line: In this Concerto, the sweeping crescendi and roaring fanfares that should stimulate goose bumps are merely mechanical arpeggios in Hamelin's hands. I am hopeful for Hamelin after reading in Hyperion's catalogue that he is recording the Concerto again. Perhaps he will redeem himself, but until then, I must whole-heartedly direct the reader to Jack Gibbons' interpretation and sublime delivery of the Concerto for Solo Piano: (Alkan: 12 Études, Op. 39). Gibbons' powerful rendition of the Concerto Op. 39 is vastly superior to Hamelin's schizophrenic excursion. The Gibbons recording also contains even more of Alkan's music and some great interpretations of them. However, since I don't expect anyone to take my word for it, I encourage buying both CD's and making one's own judgment.

This CD is quite possibly my favorite piano solo CD I own. Hamelin's fiery interpretation leaves after each movement with your mouth gaping open, wondering quite literally how it could be humanly possible to play as such. But play, he does, and impress he did. This CD should grace everyone's collection!

This astonishing performance is the one that first brought the playing of Canadian super-virtuoso Marc-Andre Hamelin to my attention. In the years since then I have purchased just about everything he has recorded, and heard him play five recitals, one of which featured the Alkan Concerto.

If you have never heard this piece you owe it to yourself to do so. The first movement alone is one of the most unusual and fascinating things I know from the earlier half of the nineteenth century. Cast in alternating 'orchestral' and 'solo' passages like a piano concerto, it is a gigantic work of relentless pianistic fireworks. To see it on the printed page is eye-popping and to hear it played is absolutely hair-raising. There have been previous magnificent readings of this music, by pianists such as John Ogdon and Ronald Smith, but Hamelin easily surpasses them in his command of the architecture of the piece, in the clarity and dryness of his articulation, the unbelievable ease with which he tosses off supremely difficult and thick figurations, and the scorching, almost diabolical energy he produces on every page.

This is truly one of the great piano recordings of all time. If you love fantastic piano playing, make certain to add this to your library.

This is possibly the greatest piano recording of the 20th century. A stunning achievement!