bro.. you should have performed in public more... idk why your music has something special. I started to prefer your scherzo diabolico to chopin's scherzo and he is my favourite pianist. your railway etude invented zero rubato and stable rhythm, your prelude 1,2 sound so special yet so regular idk how it is possible... everyone knows satie or debussy but not you wtf... Mendelssohn made Bach famous after his death maybe someone should do it with your music too
A lot of people in the classical world haven't heard of Alkan but luckily my teacher showed me alkans music. But sadly alot pepole in my music school didn't heard of him before I came there.
Checklist to become a great pianist like Charles Alkan: 1) Dump the cheap digital and get an acoustic. 2) Practice every day. 3) Learn to play dotted sixteenth notes. 4) Become an angry loner.
How to write like Charles Alkan in 6 steps. 1. Find a melody 2. Make it french, and old fashioned sounding 3. Add chords, including cluster chords 4. Make it sound like an orchestra 5. Make random bits very hard, but not glittery. 6. Add barlines, and random stops and starts.
I think the not touring part didn't help either. Fame and popularity is an expensive monster to feed. I'm just now discovering Alkan and his music. So thanks for the quick biography video.
Great synopsis and it's always great to see this man's music get recognized - I first heard Le festin d'Esope (Aesop's Feast) performed live in 1987 and was totally blown away by it - since then I've studied and performed a lot of his music and agree with Raymond Lewenthal's assessment that, of all the Romantic-era composers that have been forgotten for whatever reason, Alkan is the most deserving of recognition. That being said, some of his best work is also very difficult by any standard and requires a lot of maintenance to keep in the fingers. His musical approach is Beethoven-inspired (unlike Chopin, for example, who is more Mozart-inspired), and his finales in my opinion (in the Concerto and Symphony for solo piano, and that fantastic cello sonata, for example) are tremendously exciting and musically comparable to Beethoven's finales. He was also as much a futurist as a traditionalist, and his unorthodox harmonic/rhythmic language frequently foreshadows Mahler and even Prokofiev. I'm still surprised at how few professional musicians are familiar with his music, though he's been championed a good bit in the past 20 years by Marc-Andre Hamelin, Steven Osborne, Stephanie McCallum, among others.
mwwsc -- Lewenthal would have been pleased by the uptick in Alkan's reputation. Several year ago there was a poorly advertised recital of the entire Opus 39 played by Jack Gibbons here in New York. My wife and I went and I was sure we would be rattling around in the recital hall. The place was full. Next to us was a young man who had taken the bus down from Boston for the concert and was returning by bus that same night so he could go to work in the morning. Sitting behind us was a gentleman who had flown in from the Los Angeles area who was just staying in the city for a few days, but it was the prospect of listening to Gibbons play the Opus 39 cycle that lured him. I only wish there were more performers around to give him a try.
Alkan's problem with contemporary music in Paris was probably facilitated by the fact that the bulk of the audience's interest lay with opera. It took up to the 1870's for french music to finally leave opera and develop more in chamber music and the symphonic field. Not a good working environement for someone solely interested in the piano.
It seems to me that an important reason for Alkan’s lesser popularity (apologies to cognoscenti who say he’s very well known-he has been that to me for years) is the extreme difficulty of performing his piano works. I can attempt only a very few of the occasionally accessible passages.
This is one person's response. I also love Alkan's music! Even though his most known pieces are often of ridiculous difficulty, there are some works that are easy in comparison. Most of his Op. 31 preludes are fairly easy (with some exceptions like nos. 10, 24), but quite beautiful. Some of his Op. 63 Esquisses are technically on the easier side (like nos. 1, 4, 8, 12, 18, 21, 22, 26, 30, 34, 38, 40, 43, 48). There are also many other pieces that are very playable (Op. 32 No. 2 is of reasonable difficulty; some Chants like Op. 38a No. 4, Op. 38b No. 4, Op. 65 No. 6; maybe even some Op. 74 pieces like 4, 11). from www.reddit.com/r/piano/comments/arglzj/what_are_the_easiest_alkan_pieces/
I love the way you make Alkan sound so 21st century and cool but I'm sorry you didn't mention the most important thing, his music!!! For the uninitiated, most of his compositions like Chopin's are for solo piano. He wrote many exquisite and beautiful miniatures such as the 49 Essquisses op 63 which cover a whole gamut of musical styles and emotions. Both Ravel and particularly Debussy were smitten with them and held them in very high regard. Listen to La Vision and Les Soupirs to find out why! It's a little bit of a misnomer to think that Alkan was a misanthrope. During his years of seclusion, he still lived I believe quite a normal life, teaching, studying and praying at his local synagogue, shopping for his provisions, receiving his best friends and writing some of his very greatest music. During this time, 1848-57, he wrote his magnum opus 12 minor key studies which comprise of a symphony and three movement concerto for solo piano and a set of variations called, Le Festin d'Esope. These are huge works of genius are now finding their way into the repertoire of some of today's greatest pianists. The concerto lasts 50 minutes alone and the symphony 25 minutes. Try listening to Marc Andre Hamelin's titanic interpretations. He also wrote a magnificent sonata called the four ages of man where each of the four movements describes a decade of a man's life. There is also a wonderful and very powerful sonatine and and a set of three etudes which consist of a fantasy for left hand, a 23 minute theme, variations and finale for the right hand alone!!! and a finale for both hands reunited. There are also tiny pieces like the 14th prelude which lasts 20 seconds. So much to explore for the music lover and pianist alike. Many of his pieces are very accessible for the beginner so have a go!! You'll discover through his music, that Alkan had a very warm, generous and affable personality. Thank you again for the history!
Thank you for making this point! Alkan's compositions are, to me, by far his most notable and defining accomplishments as a pianist; they are what drew me to him. They are absolutely teeming with creativity and innovation! Besides that, many of them are just so downright catchy! It was exactly 9 years, to the day, when I first got a taste of Alkan's music with the 12th of his Op.39 Etudes in all the Minor Keys, "Le Festin d'Esope." Best discovery of all my music-listening!
exactly. His is the most musical among underrated composers. Despite being a romantic many of his pieces have an unique idea and character making the, a very distinguished piece, similar to Ravel. This is not to be found everywhere. The Symphony for Piano i rank among the greatest compositions ever made, next to Moonlight Sonata and Co.
Between the storm of his tequnices you'll be able to hear the most beautiful moments in his music In my opinion his way of composition was completely different with Chopin or Liszt *Les qutre ages* his most beautiful sonata 1st mvt Le chemin de Fer Le festin This are his most beautiful pieces Well I love alkan more than any pianist in his age
Chanson De La Folle Au Bord De La Mer, Yes, I know, capitalization. Very hard to impossible to get the timing and touch just right, there is nowhere to hide in this piece, so get it perfect, or slink away from the piano, hiding your face. His small and slow pieces are such as contrast to the manic ones, Opus 39 a towering wall of impossible sound! I am especially fond of the opening of No2, the unrelenting, irresistible rhythm! I have often wondered whether my wife fully understands the implications of Chanson when I decide to play it. Although not on a beach, we are within sight of one.😚
The biggest problem with Alkan's music is that almost all of his works only exist in the first printed edition. And the type settting of those are abysmal. Half of the study time you have to invest into actually deciphering what the score says. A few of his most beloved works like the Cellosonata have been republished and are much easier to read.
Quotenwagnerianer......I'm so glad you brought to light this very important point with regards the "type-setting" of the early Editions of Alkan's music.......it's true , you have to invest a lot of time to figure out exactly what is actually written on the score that makes sense ...some of it is so terribly confusing when oneself first confront those Piano Scores.
I also heard he was a big jokester and it was a staple of his personality and was a fun person to be around and played a lot of elaborate practical jokes on people, hints to the photograph of him turning his back to the camera lol I heard it was a joke, but that all changed when he got older or in the years after Chopin died
On my page you'll find thee greatest sample of Alkan you'll ever find. His best works along with the best interpretations. It took me a year to find the pieces out of obscurity.
0:23 - "not nearly as famous", but WOW!!! JUST DISCOVERED HIM. and... I'm Stunned. Even His Difficulty has a lyrical message. And his Mighty Fortress Fugue carry the same Brilliance as BACH - UTTERLY musical. All of his work is incredibly musical. And ahead of his time - he may have written in the Romantic period, but he has "Brilliant Modern Composer" written All Over him.
Why was he less popular? There was prejudice against Jews during that time. His music was (is) also very difficult and sadly less musical than Liszt and Chopin, who dominated piano at the time.
I think it had more to do with the fact that he didn't tour/travel unlike Liszt and Chopin, Aswell that his music was indeed very different compared to Chopin's & Liszt's music. But I woudn't say Alkan's music is less musical just because of it's great difference. I believe you need to judge Music based on it's own turf/in It's own context. Alkan's music did have something original/new to offer which is less to be found in Liszt's or Chopin's music.. ( or the romantic era in general actually ). Exotic scales for example ( Some , which to my knowledge I've not heard so far in other works of that time ), Jewish influences, an Odd/Eccentric way of humor in some of his work. but yes.. definitely Les romantic ( with some exceptions ) than Liszt and Chopin who where Poets of piano that time. They where home In the romantic era. I sometimes almost feel as if Alkan's music doesn't belong in that era, even tho his more famous work clearly belongs there. I think it's success had/has to do with him writing more in the zeitgeist of the era he lived in. In these famous works ( op39 ) you do hear more influences of the Liszt and Chopin sound. But he makes it his own. staying true to his own writing even tho it eventually almost made him stop writing music.
Bryan Segers -- I agree with you. I first stumbled on Alkan's music about ten years ago when I purchased a very cheaply priced CD of a selection of his music performed very well on a Nineteenth century Pleyel piano. My first reaction was that it was beautiful and my second was that I had never in my life heard any music quite like it -- not from the nineteenth century and not from any century. I now have about 60 CDs of Alkan's music and I do not easily tire of listening them. I still love that first recording I purchased (played by Stanley Hoogland), but I also enjoy the recordings I have of his music played by a great many other excellent performers.
Lol I almost feel as if I could be a reincarnated version of Alkan 😂 I quite literally stumbled upon this video recording documentaries and presentations of every composer I could find, just as he determinedly translated both the old and new testaments. Furthermore, I am also a traditionalist, almost from birth. Hate everything to do with modern music and feel very much apart from the world, to the point where I also find myself breaking away from society. Jokes aside though, thanks for doing a brief history of him! Looking forward to listening to some of his pieces!
It might be interesting to make a brief history of men like Czerny or Hanon, because almost every piano student plays their exercises, but nobody actually knows who they were. :P
In my opinion, Alkan's piano writing definitely rivals Liszt's in its virtuosity and complexity. It is a shame that he is not better known. My two favorite compositions of his are the Concerto for Solo Piano (especially the first movement whose score is 72 pages long and is completely spellbinding from beginning to end), and Le Festin d'Esope, a set of variations on a theme.
Mr. Alkan is God of the Keyboard, so natural, underrated, more then gifted, blessed, Mozart of the Keyboard, I am a pianist and for me he is a God to himself same as Liszt and Beethoven, just genius beyond that is godlike...
I feel that as people got pianos at home his music was just too difficult for any mere mortal to play. Remember this man wrote a piece in C sharp major and modulated sharpwards until you have double sharps and even treble sharps all over the place. Chopin kept his hand on the tiller and people could aspire to play some of his pieces.... and Liszt well I have played his sonata and after three years of working on I think I nailed it. It sways all over the place but it isn't that tricky when you realise it just lots of little pieces put together. Alkan just wipes the floor with his technique and that is why he isn't popular. We just can't play it. IMHO.
No. He was nothing compared to Liszt and Chopin and his piano writing is absurd. He was writing garbage. People could have played it, but who besides other eccentric composers like Busoni would bother to learn Mendelssohn-pop-level works dressed up in ridiculous piano figuratiions. He is just a curiosity, but all you kids are convinced that someone who was played out in the 60s is some great discovery that you have special insight into. He had no influence on the history of music past a brief moment when piano technical difficulty was all the rage.
Thanks for bringing Alkan upfront!!! Again, very nice video! He is a remarkable character indeed. Definetely one of my favorite composers. I aim to pick at least one piece by him to all my recitals ^^
I mean granted, Wagner was a terrible, awful, no-good human being who happened to write amazing music. His anti-semitism was bad enough, but it probably didn't improve Alkan's opinion of him that he was German. Liszt was Hungarian, Chopin was Polish, and neither of those countries ever had a big beef with France, but Germany had been quarreling with them since the Revolution. A guy who had a super interesting life: Scriabin. Apparently died from an infection he got after cutting himself shaving, and he was in the middle of writing a piece that was meant to bring about the end of the world, called Mysterium [of which you can hear the reconstructed "Prefatory Act" on RU-vid]
Can't believe I've only just stumbled on this. This is a fresh introduction to Alkan and I actually appreciate that it's well researched but informally presented. Thank you for this!
Is it common for Jewish musicians to translate the bible? Why would he do that? They already had bibles written in french in the mid 1800's. Didn't they? Im very confused.
You taught me of his existence about 2 or 3 years ago, I think. I can’t thank you enough, cause he’s now my favorite composer, and I play some of his music (currently learning op 39 no. 9, last piece of his I played was his prelude in d minor). I tell all pianists I know about him at one point or another. Thank you.
Very good presentation of his biography. I have one suggestion: try to discipline your wonderfully spontaneous narration and eliminate the meaningless word “like” which peppers almost every one of your sentences. One more thought in case you need to mention the French composer D’Indy again: he was French, so his surname would be pronounced similar to the English word “dandy.”
Was surprised that you are actually doing a video on someone as obscure as Alkan. His pieces are pretty darn hard to play, which probably adds to the fact that he is not popular. Yeah, the pedal piano is pretty much obsolete, but Schumann also wrote quite a few pieces for this instrument. I don't think most people want to spend the time and effort to learn to play an extra keyboard with their feet.
Schumann wrote (1) 6 Studies in canonical form op 56; (2) 4 Sketches for the pedal piano op 58, (3) 6 fugues on BACH op 60. Saint Saen's 2nd. Piano concerto was originally written for the pedal piano too. Alkan wrote quite a LOT of stuff for this obsolete instrument. The Schumann pieces are part of standard organ literature nowadays.
Look for the recordings and RU-vid entries by Roberto Prosseda of Alkan Pédalier pieces. Prosseda's instrument is not an antique, and the pieces are wonderful. Many of Alkan's pédalier pieces have been recorded on an organ (Prosseda started out as an organist) but those that are done on the right instrument are wonderful. Aside from Prosseda, both Olivier Latry and Jean Dubé have recorded some Pédalier items of Alkan.
Why not talk about some of the music? His life is fascinating sure but his music is some of the most forward and backward looking stuff ever written. Every piece is a paradoxical beauty.
As far as I know, piano woman, has yet to do one of her histories on Schumann, certainly a more important composer, just considering his solo piano music, than Alkan. And this despite Alkan can occasionally wow one, he lacks Schumann's soul.
Corrections: he was actually quite wealth when he died as he was teaching throughout his life and he kept composing as well. In fact his best and most virtuosic music was written during his seclusion such as his op.39 etudes. He translated the bible into Hebrew fluently not French.
He is on record as saying he would have liked to translate the whole Bible. But for one thing, that doesn't mean he actually did any of that. And for another, I learn this only from English-language sources, and don't know what actual French words he said. Perhaps he actually meant only the Torah.
Alkan wrote piano music that was long and very technically difficult. Hardly anyone in the ninetieth century could perform his pieces. The term "Asperger" has fallen into disfavor, though many composers fit that category. Since Hans Asperger turned out to be a Nazi war criminal, the term used is now "High Functioning Autistic." I'm HFA, but I'm no longer reclusive and somewhat of an extrovert.
I would love to watch "A Brief History of Tchaikovsky". If not, then maybe an analysis of his most famous Piano concerto no. 1 which is very popular on RU-vid and, surprisingly-speaking, played by 11-year-olders !!!
@@prammar1951 but they also was jealous of each other's amazing techniques but Liszt was super famous at that time, Alkan decided to respect him. Still they were jealous of each other.
Also, Liszt was a very jealous man, Liszt didnt like Mendelssohn because he was one of rich families. I forgot the rest. Liszt is...a interesting person.
Late comment but I really think Alkan is also less famous because of his compositions, his music is less melodic than Liszt (and ofc Chopin) and maybe more virtuosic and hard to play (tbh there's not so much pianists who can boast about being able to play Alkan studies)
@Valykayz I never said Liszt was easy, but you should really look a bit more to Alkan music i think. I don't gonna argue but *for me* Alkan is the pinacle of difficulty for piano (and ofc Liszt too, but im still convinced some Alkan works are more challenging).
Clean I think you should look at Liszt’s Douze etudes, feux follets, grandes etudes de Paganini 6, grandes etudes de Paganini 4 (1838) S526c (I forget the number lol) and s253
@@clox5738 I've never played this pieces, and i think i will never be able to, but ofc i know them ... tbh nearly all the Liszt pieces are pretty famous, that's not exactly the same for Alkan ... so i could have wrote some Alkan incredible stuff too, but i don't think that's kinda relevant, just listen to some random stuff (only an intuition, maybe im wrong, but im pretty sure you don't really know Alkan works ^^) (also that was in my original thoughts to say Alkan is less famous because all his pieces are goddamn evil level, i don't have in mind a single middle tier piece from him (and yeah that's kinda the same for Liszt)
I wish she would pronounce Charles Valentin Alkan's name correctly and not so banal. She should have more poise and dignity when speaking as well. Too hectic in her speaking treatise.
I find the music of Alkan fits into two categories - very challenging in terms of technique but not interesting musically and not as gp difficult but still generic. There is a reason why Alan slipped in obscurity after his death - his works just aren’t very musical.
Thank you for a more balanced perspective. Cult composers are nothing new, but try explaining to cult members that their hero wasn’t what they think he was . He was rejected because his music was simply not that good. It is interesting up to a point, but no more.
Goodness! Learn to pronounce his name correctly! He is famous, maybe you wanted to say he is not as popular as Liszt and Chopin, but within (Piano) Music school he is VERY famous. This is ignorance TV not pianoTV.
Underrated a little bit by the greater classical music establishment, but he is horribly overrated by young piano fans who are interested in technical difficulty. He is an eccentric Mendelssohn clone, not some musical revolutionary. Busoni was wrong, not the curiosity seekers from the 60s. Alkan was not destined for greatness. He wrote SO MUCH CRAP.
