This is absolutelly stunning! Alkan's music is the peak of the art, Alkan was one of the most original, the most unconventional and the best composers ever. And Mr. Maltempo fully understand his music and his way of feeling and interpretation is perfect!
Alkan's music is definitely unique. Overall he didn't have the lyrical gifts as Chopin did. His music is generally very chaotic, restless, maelsrom of shadows, agitated, dark moods, disquieting, unfulfilling. I have to wonder if this was a reflection of his own strange, dark life? This pianist Maletempo however plays his music most excellently!!!
I dont hear all that darkness so much as I hear drama, flair and flamboyance. This music is full of humor and zest, and I find it exhilarating and yes, a fulfilling music experience
I've been a big fan of this pianist ever since I came across his video of a performance of the entire 12 etudes, Op. 39 in one concert which I imagine is the piano equivalent of running a marathon then swimming the English channel and back again. Also having the last name Maltempo is just too perfect for a such a champion of Alkan's music.
2:22:20 this performing of that piece was the best I ever listened. Extremely diffucult execution so well played. Maltempo is truely a powerful pianist probably the best of his area.
I need to hear the first song at the speed of 0.25 over the next year, just to understand it's melodic line. If I survive, the next year I will listen to 0.50 and in the third year I will hear at 0.75. At the end of those three years I will be able to listen at 1.00 speed, that I hear now while writing. In fact, I didn't know that I wrote so slowly. Damn!
Virtuose pianiste incroyable et si méconnu,Alkan a sans doute souffert de la concurrence de ses illustres collègues :Chopin et Liszt ! Ses Études et sa sonate des 4 âges de la vie mériteraient des récitals si les interprètes actuels et organisateurs de concerts daignaient se pencher surson œuvre! Maltempo que je surnommerai Buentempo!
He's definaly a king of introvert who can summon a full orchestra and create a whole new universe with a piano only. People always argue about the music difficuity of Liszt and Alkan. Well, one of the most technical challege work of Liszt is his great transcpritions of Beethoven's 9 Symphonies. And Alkan usually composes his work at same level of the symphonic harmony and complex texture like them but with his original ideas.
This is terrific music. When I heard virtuoso music, I always ask if the content is there to drive the music or whether I'm just hearing "manic fingers" or "fast thick theory" kinds of playing, but I don't hear the boring old sonata form obsessions with Alkan. I hear the racing fingers, but there's a profuse creative and musical heart driving it, not theory or structure, for the most part. It's cause for celebration when the authentic musical content is the vast majority of what you hear and the applied musical theory (such things as thematic development, sonata form, preconceived chord structure, excess repetition, predictable variation, etc.) is not noticed. Structure should come later, it's the music, the authentic musical ideas and impulses at liberty, energized and given great life, that should be the animal in action. At least Alkan is going for it, I'd love to see what Alkan and Beethoven (a great musical architect AND content provider), could come up with, because Alkan seems to have a high-momentum musical mind with the fingers and discipline to follow through with his ideas. Everything with Alkan remains CLEARLY DEFINED, he isn't drifting, where the melody backs off, the rhythm is clear, or the transition is powerful, the time spent always seems clearly THERE FOR A REASON, a feeling, it's organic in creation and has integrity. There is sometimes a clear lack of thematic development in the old classical style, yet solid structure regardless. What can I say, it's REFRESHING, like a waterfall of ideas racing into the air.
Thank you, sir! You have put into words something I have felt for a long time about Alkan’s music but had trouble describing: his economy of material. It is all so memorable! Even when I first heard the 30-minute-long 1st movement of his Concerto for Solo Piano, it did not take me long to be able to hum the entire movement to myself from memory. Alkan really guides the listener and, as you say, where melody backs off, rhythm is there to maintain interest. I always know what is going on in his music. Like you said, everything is clearly defined. I sometimes find myself getting lost in Chopin’s and ESPECIALLY Liszt’s pieces during those “rhapsodic” or “poetic” passages, when the composer just abandons rhythm and clear melody, in favor of … “profoundness” or whatever. (Call me unsophisticated, but I need some kind of rhythmic underpinning in music to stay interested.) I find myself thinking “What’s the point of this passage?” or “What the heck is happening?!” or “This piece was so interesting until this point!” With Alkan’s music, this rarely, if ever, happens. That is what makes him stand out as a great composer, in my opinion!
Alkan's music sounds better than madeleines taste!!! And with the wonders of RU-vid you can listen to Alkan all day long from the comfort of your drawing room!
Incroyable compositeur pianiste virtuose tant méconnu injustement Alkan, contemporain de Chopin et Liszt, a sans aucun doute souffert de leurs succès. Ses Études et sa grande sonate des 4 âges de la vie sont de grands moments pianistiques superbement restitués par le si mal nommé Vincenzo Maltempo que je surnomme Buentempo!
A Like button is too little, I need a Love and an Adore buttons :) When I heard Alkan performed by Vincenzo Maltempo (oh yeah, what a last name for a virtuoso!) for the first time, I was really impressed. I've been asking myself why Rachmaninov had never played Alkan (or we lack recordings thereof), though. I really imagine him playing the first étude.
classical music. so you listen to the same few composers, again and again. then you discover alkan, scriabin, medtner, or modern composers, like messiaen... music is all about progression, newness, reinterpretation, advancement, moving forward!
Pauvre Alkan, si oublié de nos jours alors qu'il a composé des œuvres qui sont vraiment extraordinaires (Festin d'Esope, Toccatina, etc.) Manque de courage de la plupart des grands pianistes qui font carrière actuellement ? il faut ressusciter Alkan !
Ressusciter Alkan, oui, on essaie !… En tout cas quelques revues musicales aujourd'hui sont en train de "déterrer" sa vie et son œuvre, dont cette revue qui présente un article très complet et très bien documenté de 17 pages sur Alkan : editions-nm.com/achat_revue.php?idrevue=5 extrait ici : editions-nm.com/extraits/lnm5_extraits.pdf
Não há dúvidas de que se trata de um extraordinário compositor. Ele produziu muitas obras de elevado grau de complexidade técnica e esforço concentrado enorme. Mas como se pode explicar que um gênio como Alkan não esteja tendo a projeção que outros compositores de seu tempo tiveram e ainda têm? Na minha opinião é porque a obra de pelo menos dois compositores pianísticos contemporâneos dele são muito mais encantadoras: Liszt e, mais ainda, Chopin. Mais tarde apareceram Debussy e Ravel. Alkan tem obras memoráveis como Les souspirs e Promenade Sur L'eau e outras, mas de uma forma geral suas músicas lembram "marteladas enérgicas" no teclado, sem leveza, sem embalo. Não é fácil gostar de Alkan, mas não pretendo diminuir seu mérito.
You can also take a look at "Marc-André Hamelin" or "Yui Morishita" for extremely well performed Alkan's concerto!! Highly recommending both! (especially for the first time frame you've posted, Marc-Andre Hamelin's version is above sky imho)
both make heavy use of the wonderful dies irae, a melody taken from an old Gregorian chant that is commonly used by composers as a representation of death and mortality
Alkan wrote the "Trois morceaux dans le genre pathétique, Op. 15" for Liszt and for some reason purposely omitted any indications of tempo, expression, etc. They were friends and fellow performers at the time (as was Chopin who was a close friend of Alkan's) but he hated Liszt's bombastic style and may have been curious what Liszt would do with the three pieces. Liszt is said to have been intimidated by Alkan's technique so maybe these were written as a challenge to Liszt? No one will ever know.
Alkan is a discovery for me - how wonderful! I found a terrific and detailed Wikipedia entry about him here for anyone interested: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles-Valentin_Alkan
