well in addition to the finally worthwhile readings p[osted here .I like this performance 's tempo which seems more 19th century than bartok as the two recordings I have
I have been playing at this piece for 30 + years and I am so happy to see so many people playing and discussing this music. Through all of my years of study, I was viewed somewhat suspiciously whenever I brought up his name by every teacher (and other pianists, except notably Martin Jones) I encountered. Still happens.
I think that this was an amazing performance. The Style Severe that Alkan advocated did not mean to never breathe! Piano playing is singing, not beating a drum in a HS Band....
True, but have you heard Lewenthal? Much as I like freedoms, on the whole, Lewenthal is expressive and remarkably tight at the same time. It's hard to know exactly how straight Alkan really played, considering how freely his contemporaries were likely to have been, but I'd personally suspect that Lewenthal's way is about as close as anyone. I like many things here,but the rubato is sometimes too loose for me- it often drastically alters the pulse, rather than merely adding inflection.
I first heard Lewenthal in the early 70's. I have his edition of Alkan and all recordings. He is a phenomenon. I have not heard anyone play with his level of clarity. Weiss's interpretation seems anti-Lewenthal but I applaud that. I think that his playing of the first movement in this recital gives it a soaring architecture. A bold performance of an immensely intimdating work. I like someone who is thinking, reacting, just meeting the music head on and performing in the moment as he seems to be
Btw, it's interesting that you mention the drum, as Alkan was fascinated by it. Look at Tambour aux Champs! It's perfectly possible to maintain the feel of a steady drum beat, while playing the melodic line on either side of beats, to maintain breathing. For my money, while there are loads of superb things in this, it would be even more effective it retained a ticking pulse behind more of the freedoms. I usually argue in favour of extremely free timing, but I think Alkan is an unusual case.
I have played Tambour at home for a long time. Wonderful piece but I don't see how it could compare with the scope and complexity of the 1st mvt of the Sym. I am finally learning this piece seriously to perform. Of course it may just end up being for the walls. I know how Lewenthal got his results, I am not sure that I want to go through that....
I wish Cziffra or Richter or Berman in his youth had played some Alkan.
No, I have not played it but I have heard it. I played op 39 #1 "Comme le Vent" about 25 years ago. 20 pages in 4 1/2 minutes. Absolutely brutal. But it sounded like a long train wreck : (
Oh. Well I heard a concert pianist once tell me it really isn't too awfully difficult, and even the climax is half-way managable with good technique and practice. Even though it's sort of "inferior" (harmonically VERY simple) to his other compositions, Le Chemin de Fer is a very enjoyable and pleasant etude.
it reminded me too of chopin in some parts. but i don't think i could say "i didn't like it". i haven't heard a lot of alkan, that's for sure, until recently i didn't even know his name. but i like this piece very much, and i did enjoy this interpretation very much as well. and i actually found it very dramatic and epic, so i don't get exactly where it is "deprived of dramatic tension"...
I really don't like this interpretation. It seems to lack the dryness and consistency of tempo that Alkan calls for. Alkan is not Chopin, and to play him with masses of romantic rubato deprives the music of all its dramatic tension. I didn't find the intepretation at all musical.
This fourth study is one of the most passionate of all Alkan's works, and of Op. 39, probably the single study you can use more license for rubato in than any other.
I disagree with you on this; my ideal interpretation of the Symphony as a work is a descent into madness movement by movement. The key of each movement gets progressively darker, but the individual characters of the four movements reflect this.
This mvt is a passioned plea or cry. The second, a Funeral March, has the cruel realization that the cry has not been heard. The Scherzo is wild but controlled, and Raymond Lewenthal's description of the finale as a bat ride in hell is surely accurate!
I too admire Raymond Lewenthal's recording of the Symphony (and I much prefer Lewenthal's ferocious "Quasi-Faust" on the same LP/CD to the CD version by Weiss). But Alan Weiss's thought-provoking 2CD set has offered me new musical perspectives on Alkan, and I'd recommend it to any newcomer to Alkan as an ideal introduction to the composer. For me, Weiss's CD version of the Symphony is preferable to this video version, and I do urge viewers to hear it.
It's an interesting performance. I like a lot of things here. The tone production is far more interesting than on most performances. However, I do find the rubato a bit wayward, to be honest. I don't think it should necessarily be as straight as it is usually played, but the tempo does often tend to feel 'broken up' rather than stretched out.
I have been playing at this piece for 30 + years and I am so happy to see so many people playing and discussing this music. Through all of my years of study, I was viewed somewhat suspiciously whenever I brought up his name by every teacher (and other pianists, except notably Martin Jones) I encountered. Still happens.
I think that this was an amazing performance. The Style Severe that Alkan advocated did not mean to never breathe! Piano playing is singing, not beating a drum in a HS Band....
I've read about this somewhere, and I completely agree that the beauty of Alkan is that he did, indeed insist on strict time with no rubato.
The best alkan piece in my opinion however, which really demonstrates his quirkyness is the 'marche funebre d'un Papagallo' scored for a very unusual combination: 2 sopranos, tenor, bass, bassoon and organ.
All credit to Weiss for not taking this blisteringly fast.
Everyone believes with Alkan that the only way to play it is FAST. But Weiss really proves them wrong with a truly musical interpretation. I love this!
Its a shame he clearly does not understand the style... rubato is necessary but not this much, and certainly not in the way he does it.
88alan8800 10 months ago
well in addition to the finally worthwhile readings p[osted here .I like this performance 's tempo which seems more 19th century than bartok as the two recordings I have
lovesGenet 2 years ago
I have been playing at this piece for 30 + years and I am so happy to see so many people playing and discussing this music. Through all of my years of study, I was viewed somewhat suspiciously whenever I brought up his name by every teacher (and other pianists, except notably Martin Jones) I encountered. Still happens.
I think that this was an amazing performance. The Style Severe that Alkan advocated did not mean to never breathe! Piano playing is singing, not beating a drum in a HS Band....
grdiii 3 years ago
True, but have you heard Lewenthal? Much as I like freedoms, on the whole, Lewenthal is expressive and remarkably tight at the same time. It's hard to know exactly how straight Alkan really played, considering how freely his contemporaries were likely to have been, but I'd personally suspect that Lewenthal's way is about as close as anyone. I like many things here,but the rubato is sometimes too loose for me- it often drastically alters the pulse, rather than merely adding inflection.
cziffra1980 3 years ago
I first heard Lewenthal in the early 70's. I have his edition of Alkan and all recordings. He is a phenomenon. I have not heard anyone play with his level of clarity. Weiss's interpretation seems anti-Lewenthal but I applaud that. I think that his playing of the first movement in this recital gives it a soaring architecture. A bold performance of an immensely intimdating work. I like someone who is thinking, reacting, just meeting the music head on and performing in the moment as he seems to be
grdiii 2 years ago 2
Btw, it's interesting that you mention the drum, as Alkan was fascinated by it. Look at Tambour aux Champs! It's perfectly possible to maintain the feel of a steady drum beat, while playing the melodic line on either side of beats, to maintain breathing. For my money, while there are loads of superb things in this, it would be even more effective it retained a ticking pulse behind more of the freedoms. I usually argue in favour of extremely free timing, but I think Alkan is an unusual case.
cziffra1980 3 years ago
I have played Tambour at home for a long time. Wonderful piece but I don't see how it could compare with the scope and complexity of the 1st mvt of the Sym. I am finally learning this piece seriously to perform. Of course it may just end up being for the walls. I know how Lewenthal got his results, I am not sure that I want to go through that....
I wish Cziffra or Richter or Berman in his youth had played some Alkan.
Do you play?
grdiii 2 years ago
You've probably played "Le Chemin de Fer", you know the etude about the Railway?
OrangeSodaKing 2 years ago
No, I have not played it but I have heard it. I played op 39 #1 "Comme le Vent" about 25 years ago. 20 pages in 4 1/2 minutes. Absolutely brutal. But it sounded like a long train wreck : (
grdiii 2 years ago
Oh. Well I heard a concert pianist once tell me it really isn't too awfully difficult, and even the climax is half-way managable with good technique and practice. Even though it's sort of "inferior" (harmonically VERY simple) to his other compositions, Le Chemin de Fer is a very enjoyable and pleasant etude.
OrangeSodaKing 2 years ago
I much more prefer Hamelin in this piece. This performance indeed sounds dry and chopped up.
woubie 3 years ago
Alkan was a quintessentially Romantic composer and Weiss plays his music in a wonderfully spontaneous and dynamic way. And what a lovely tone he has.
Those who think Ronald Smith's boring, English way with this music is in any way authentic have something to learn here.
AulicExclusiva 3 years ago
it reminded me too of chopin in some parts. but i don't think i could say "i didn't like it". i haven't heard a lot of alkan, that's for sure, until recently i didn't even know his name. but i like this piece very much, and i did enjoy this interpretation very much as well. and i actually found it very dramatic and epic, so i don't get exactly where it is "deprived of dramatic tension"...
johnbaptistlulu 3 years ago
I really don't like this interpretation. It seems to lack the dryness and consistency of tempo that Alkan calls for. Alkan is not Chopin, and to play him with masses of romantic rubato deprives the music of all its dramatic tension. I didn't find the intepretation at all musical.
SeladorCellardoor 3 years ago
This fourth study is one of the most passionate of all Alkan's works, and of Op. 39, probably the single study you can use more license for rubato in than any other.
davealkan 3 years ago
I disagree with you on this; my ideal interpretation of the Symphony as a work is a descent into madness movement by movement. The key of each movement gets progressively darker, but the individual characters of the four movements reflect this.
This mvt is a passioned plea or cry. The second, a Funeral March, has the cruel realization that the cry has not been heard. The Scherzo is wild but controlled, and Raymond Lewenthal's description of the finale as a bat ride in hell is surely accurate!
davealkan 3 years ago
Well, you mention Lewenthal, and in my opinion his interpretation is far superior, and without the wrong notes!
TSpokemon 3 years ago
I too admire Raymond Lewenthal's recording of the Symphony (and I much prefer Lewenthal's ferocious "Quasi-Faust" on the same LP/CD to the CD version by Weiss). But Alan Weiss's thought-provoking 2CD set has offered me new musical perspectives on Alkan, and I'd recommend it to any newcomer to Alkan as an ideal introduction to the composer. For me, Weiss's CD version of the Symphony is preferable to this video version, and I do urge viewers to hear it.
RayAtBristolUni 3 years ago
It's an interesting performance. I like a lot of things here. The tone production is far more interesting than on most performances. However, I do find the rubato a bit wayward, to be honest. I don't think it should necessarily be as straight as it is usually played, but the tempo does often tend to feel 'broken up' rather than stretched out.
cziffra1980 3 years ago
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I have been playing at this piece for 30 + years and I am so happy to see so many people playing and discussing this music. Through all of my years of study, I was viewed somewhat suspiciously whenever I brought up his name by every teacher (and other pianists, except notably Martin Jones) I encountered. Still happens.
I think that this was an amazing performance. The Style Severe that Alkan advocated did not mean to never breathe! Piano playing is singing, not beating a drum in a HS Band....
grdiii 3 years ago
I see no reason whatever why Alkan should be played dryly or metronomically. He was an exact contemporary of Chopin, Wagner and Liszt.
AulicExclusiva 3 years ago
I've read about this somewhere, and I completely agree that the beauty of Alkan is that he did, indeed insist on strict time with no rubato.
The best alkan piece in my opinion however, which really demonstrates his quirkyness is the 'marche funebre d'un Papagallo' scored for a very unusual combination: 2 sopranos, tenor, bass, bassoon and organ.
karlharlequin 3 years ago
Do you have a copy of that recording? I've read about it countless times and I'd love to hear it.
KeithWhalen11 3 years ago
I love that piece!
grdiii 3 years ago
All credit to Weiss for not taking this blisteringly fast.
Everyone believes with Alkan that the only way to play it is FAST. But Weiss really proves them wrong with a truly musical interpretation. I love this!
davealkan 3 years ago 4