Charles-Valentin Alkan: Concerto For Solo Piano [ORIGINAL RECORDING REISSUED]

Marc- Andre Hamelin (Artist), Charles-Valentin Alkan (Composer), none (Conductor), Marc-André Hamelin (Performer)

Product Details

• Performer: Marc-André Hamelin
• Conductor: none
• Composer: Charles-Valentin Alkan
• Audio CD (March 27, 2001)
• SPARS Code: DDD
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Original recording reissued
• Label: Music & Arts Program
• ASIN: B000001OFE
• In-Print Editions: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #105,531 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

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Track Listings

1. Concerto, for solo piano in G sharp minor (Études dans tous les tons mineurs Nos. 8-10), Op. 39/8-10: Allegro assai

2. Concerto, for solo piano in G sharp minor (Études dans tous les tons mineurs Nos. 8-10), Op. 39/8-10: Adagio

3. Concerto, for solo piano in G sharp minor (Études dans tous les tons mineurs Nos. 8-10), Op. 39/8-10: Allegretto alla barbaresca

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Silvestrov’s Sixth Symphony is a dense work leavened by inventive scoring and powerful narrative ideas. The central movement, by far the longest, begins with an Andantino section that quotes from Mahler’s Fifth and then progresses on a journey that includes a violent brass-percussion eruption that fades away. There are five movements, all played without a break, and ECM’s excellent notes will help guide the listener new to this composer through an adventurous exploration into a piece that bears frequent repetition. The Sixth is very much in the manner of other Silvestrov works such as his Postludium, which explores musical and personal memories--recommendation enough for anyone familiar with his style. The broadcast orchestra under the baton of Boreyko, who has often conducted Silvestrov’s large-scale works, is well drilled and delivers a moving performance of this deep and powerful symphony. The sonics fit the music well, darkly resonant on a wide stage with well-defined solo and section work. A thrilling listening experience. --Dan Davis

Product Description

Concerto for solo piano

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

33 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars More of the same? Yes, but......, June 14, 2007

By	Ian C. Punter (Thailand) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Valentin Silvestrov: Symphony No. 6 (Audio CD)

I confess I have only just received this CD, and so my comments are based pretty much on just a couple of hearings. I can only justify this rather prompt, and possibly insufficiently considered review, by pleading guilty to an overwhelming surfeit of enthusiasm!
Also, much of what I say here could be construed as a simple rewrite of my reaction to the superb Sony recording and performance of Silvestrov's 5th.
The first impression again, is that in a sense the language is very much the same as in the 5th, intense and impassioned, and achingly beautiful. Mahler is again to the fore, especially the 'adagietto' from his 5th Symphony, but the main difference is that there is much more dynamic contrast in the 6th. Shattering moments that are aided by a superb recording and performance by the Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra under Andrey Boreyko.
In this symphony there are 5 linked movements, clearly tracked by ECM, the central one being easily the longest at 25 minutes, and during the total duration of 54 minutes there are several passages marked 'vivace' and 'allegro'. In other words, while this work provides a similar listening experience to the 5th, there is greater variety in tempo and dynamics, and therefore the 'journey' is more eventful.
Less sympathetic reviewers may claim that this is the '5th all over again'. Some say that about Bruckner's symphonies, but that misses a point, namely that, yes, the music palpably comes from the same source and is written with the same inspiration and using the same language, but each work manages to achieve its own greatness.
Like the 5th, this is a symphony that takes you on a journey, one you will wish to repeat again and again. I have lived with Mahler's symphonies for 42 years now, - I think these symphonies of Silvestrov contain something of the same 'richness' to sustain a good few more years of listening, (if not 42, unfortunately!). You can't really ask for more!
Terrific.

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Incendiary piano playing, June 1, 2002

By	Steven Eldredge (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Listen Slowly., February 28, 2008

By	Ryan Morris "classical terrorist" (Chicago, IL) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Valentin Silvestrov: Symphony No. 6 (Audio CD)

Silvestrov is a very enigmatic composer. I admit, i owned his Postludium and Metamusik for almost four years before I really "heard" it for the first time.
This disc, as does much of Silvestrov's music, starts out almost identically with a fff violent sound block that could be from a horror movie, which, at its peak employs the "Silvestrov echo," usually on a piano, or harp.
Unlike almost any other composer I can think, Silvestrov will benefit from a patient audience and one that can Listen slowly. If you are willing to lay back, light a cig, turn down the lights and let the music envelope you, you will be in for a treat and something specific to Silvestrov. His pieces are like musical journeys through harsh violent waters to a beautiful and call moon filled evening(alright enough of that)---basically it is extrememly dynamic--often oscillating between violence and beauty, but it takes time to get there and the melodic development is very subtle(almost like minimalism in a sense) You will hear a single note on a horn and then ten mintues later the melody on the horn has transformed the entire soundscape.
This symphony is a good place to start for those new to Silvestrov, especially those unaccustomed to modern music. The first two movements represent the violent silvestrov while the monumental third movement is like a trip through history where we visit Berg, late Mahler(of the tenth adagio and ninth outer mvmts and specifically the adagietto of mahler five which is often hinted at)----
This is typical Silvestrov-though the third movement might be statement of things to come in later music, but we'll have to wait and see. Either way--this is an enjoyable journey and I would recommend it to those affiliated with this new generation of music, the post avant-garde. Enjoy. Also recommended by Silvestrov--symph 5, Postludium for Piano and Orch(ECM), Post Scriptum for violin and piano, String quartet 1, cello sonata, bagatelles and serenades(ECM), and the Drama Trilogy.