...when Chopin died, he left to Alkan, in his "will" as it were, a copy of his so called "piano method"...listening to this, esp. in Mr. Hamelin's rendition, I get the idea there was a bit of a sarcastic dig in this...
@HerlockSholmes123 "You were criticizing Alkan's musicality, as if he wasn't able to make music that's appealing to a person's ears" Not *a* person's ears. My ears.
It's my fault. I thought you'd be able to recognize an opinion that didn't have "IMHO" written at the end. Silly me!
alkan era ritenuto al pari se non superiore a franz litz e thalberg con i quali rivaleggiava si dice che i suoi studi sono persio piu' diffuciki di quelli di litz per lo meno dell edizione 139 non della 136 in ogni caso lostesso litz per me il dio del pianoforte disse che alkan era in possesso di una tecnica perfetta mai vista ..essere considerato al pari di litz dice tutto
I think I have found the greatest pianist to ever live. Wonderful piece, but honestly I have never and doubt I will ever hear playing that will top this god.
Truly amaing virtuosity, I agree with everyone. But this is a sloppy performance with many mistakes. Is there a video of Hamelin performing this as well as on his recording? That's what he deserves to have posted here.
@thx113829000 I would have to agree with you. It is true that Alkan is a challenging composer...you have to understand what his music is about and what it brings to the rest of us. Personally, I love Alkan...he is...just awesome
it surprises me every time how far ahead of his time Alkan actually was. it always takes 3, 4 times before you 'get' Alkan. Most of the people I introduce Alkan to, dislike his music at first, and appreciate it after some time. And true, the more you hear it, the more you want to hear, and the better it gets. a good example is op.31 no.8, that piece really scares the hell out of me. it's brilliant.
Hamelin is a piano monstrosity. Shame he does not get the praise he deserves. He needs to do more recordings of the popular composers, to see if his interpretations would blow the competition away.
@kilace he won a grammy is holds the title SuperVirtuoso not many pianists hold that title. the right ppl respect him and kno who he is. most ppl dont even get deep into music so who cares wat they think, y'kno?
@kilace His Beethoven is very good but not close to Gieseking (whose is). It's really a mistake to waste your money on Hamelin playing the warhorses. He doesn't really put himself into them. I believe that Beethoven's Fourth (could be Third) piano concerto is on YouTube. He's been doing a lot of touring and less recording. I've heard him twice - no empty seats. A lot of people must know who he is to fill 1800 and then 1600 seats. They were turning people away at the box offices.
So do I! Apparently it looks like the rest of the world has never heard of Alkan! I am hunting the entire sonata video/audio (recording preferably by Marc Andre Hamelin) or someone with a good interpretation at good quality...so far no luck. I will upload them as soon as I get them.
@Egide0 Hamelin's is good. Ronald Smith's is good too, and Pierre Reach's isn't bad. I prefer Smith's 1st movement, but Hamelin's 2nd movement is unreal!
i'm just starting getting into Alkan's music and i've deeply fallen in love with it. Now, as i see this video, feel totally overwhelmed my the technical complexity plus it's fine demand for a delicate interpretation. Thanks for posting !!! =D
I just can't understand why is it that Alkan is not as famous as Liszt or Chopin, since his work is simply great in every single way. What do you think Egide0 ?
Actually from what I know, Alkan was very good friends with both chopin and liszt. He was more of a chopin style guy...chopin was not a fan of performing in public and as a result, he's done quite a number of public performances...he could trully play with his friends and close relatives...Liszt on the other hand was a star! Alkan had a habit or reputation for being unsocial especially in around 1848 onwards till his death...he avoided the public then...don't know why but it's one reason though
@Egide0 : I think it's because his music is difficult to play, and it requires some degree of a understanding to appreciate this type of work. not many performers can say they played Alkan in front of a "real audience" that knows what's being played..it's so addictive..same goes for Medtner, Godovsky, eh, musical poetry..
@Egide0 Because France was admittedly antisemitic at the time, Alkan was passed up on a teaching post that was very important to him. He asked his patron for help, and she was pitiless. Not so long afterward, Alkan had an illegitimate son, whom he was affectionate towards, and spent plenty of time with even when he was a really reclusive person.
These two events were humiliating to him, so add his odd behavior to the mix, and one can imagine how he felt in public. That is why he left society.
@Egide0 From what I know, he was very well known, and Liszt was in fact scared of Alkan's excellent technique. Alkan was a desired teacher before he even reached adulthood. But he retreated from public in the second half of his life, and therefore was probably forgotten
@Egide0 Plus, some of alkan's music is atonal for the period and therefore wasn't popular.
Overall, though, I would say that although some of alkan's pieces can be very musical, some of them are lacking in expression, which would have irked quite a few people of the time period.
I'll add on to Egide's reply. Alkan rivaled if not surpassed even Liszt's virtuosity. He is much less popular than Chopin and Liszt not only because of the seeming depression he fell into (some theorize to be the result of not being given a certain job at the Conservatoire) but also because of the music itself. Alkan wrote many pieces requiring great virtuosity which is still a rarity today. -
Rarity in that people like Marc Andre Hamelin are not so common, nor given the proper "popularity" they might deserve. But anyway, the complexities of Alkan's music lost popularity in that people started appreciating music in general less deeply and more superficially, and started paying attention only to things that instantly brought satisfaction. For me, Alkan's music is some of the greatest in the world. Luckily, its popularity is starting to ever so slightly emerge again.
@amxmachine i almost forgot his esquisse increpatio. an amazing piece with much to build on. he must have known no one would listen to it back then so he kept it real unexplored
@soyelreferi99 I'm learning this now... It's taken me two weeks just for the first page.. and some of the fast notes are so far away from each other! Hamelin's huge hands just don't show the difficulty here! I'm thinking I've bitten off more than i can chew
@Yamsareverytasty i'd really like to see your aproeches into this piece ! I think i'll try ti find this piece so as to study it, or at least, for seeing how difficult it is. Those arpeggios at the beggining and the left hand seem to be high demanding, so let me congratulate you in advance =P Do you know where can i find Alkan's partitures on internet ?
The arpeggios at the begginning in the left hand are by far the easiest part actually :P The hard part about the left hand is the jumps you must make, and the chords you must make your hand fit at each end of them. Watching Hamelin's performance here is scary, the speed he plays it. His studio recording is much slower. Just go to imslp(dot)org and look under composers, all of Alkan's music that I've ever looked for is there
Pieces like Winterwind by Chopin are as fast as this, but the difference is that everything flows, all the notes are within reach while holding the previous note down. Here you have to use your thumb multiple times as opposed to the usual fingering of such a passage of 1 4 2 5 1 4 2 5, and also quite a few times jump from one key to the next (which isn't tooo bad, but at about 15 notes per second its rather hard)
I just watched Hamelin before and I think his huge hands do things which most pianists cannot due to the size, and that Alkan could, therefore I'm finding this harder than Alkan intended
Haha, yes it was. Oh man, I love your name and your page... Kastlesucks... that is sooo true. I don't know why some dumba** would proclaim everyone to be wrong and incorrect... like his stupid version of the Hungarian rhapsody.
"phrasing that breathes" = musical phrases that stretch (get a tiny bit slower) at the end. This is a common practice in classical music that allows the listener to really hear and FEEL the phrase before the next one starts. How much a phrase can or should "breathe" is of course variable and some pianists do the opposite (like Richter) and are always pressing forward, making the music seem rushed or "breathless". I think Hamelin would sound MUCH better it he let the phrases "breathe" a litte.
what a fantastic piece of music. i finally got the score and discovered that apart from the insane speed it isnt actually that incredibly difficult. however it does take ages to learn god damn^^
EXACTLY!! Marc Andre Hamelin had a huge advantage. His father introduced him to works of composers such as alkan and Godowsky when he was just a young kid.
he has recorded 2 cds where he plays only haydn sonatas then there are 2 dvds from him where his program include haydn and he plays beethoven concerti. =)
but hamelin stated at the same time that this music werent interesting cause of it's focus on difficulty and lack of musical substance. so even if hamelin could put this composer in his programs just to show he could do it, it just wouldnt be interesting cause of the lack of musicality. so even alkan met his match in regard of extreme demanding techn piano music, but his nemesis has never been recorded, i think (of obvious reasons, anything more difficult than alkan is... nuff said)
but hamelin stated at the same time that this "music werent interesting cause of it's focus on difficulty and lack of musical substance. " In an interview i saw of Hamelin, he said: "I really do not enjoy sweating over this music, I wish it were easier, but it's worth it for the sheer quality of musical content" (or very similar words) I think if Alkan was focusing on difficulty he could create something far, far harder.
hamelin is quite misunderstood playing extreme music just for the virtuousity aspects. thank god for hamelin, he blows dust from relatively unknown composers and their pieces. no amateur on utube can judge what intentions alkan had, making his masterpieces. in the interview i mentioned in previous texts, there were another franciouss composer which did focus much on difficulty, i dont remember his name, but it's in the interview, where hamelin states: he make alkan look like a "walk in the park"
doing relatively unknown composers, has undoubtly succeded in doing just that. its undoubtfully difficult to please fools, with such techn difficulty and adding the socalled passion, well if someone wants passion, listen to less technical pieces then, how difficult can that be to understand... sometimes its impossible to combine both, and maybe not even the composers intentions, hehe think of that u jerks, no one knew alkan except from people like chopin who lived next door to him. SO PISS OFF
there are so many morons on this site looking after failures like the ones of hamelin. There are always a moron complaining about things, but there are an interview with hamelin, a looong one, where he puts out that people does wrong in thinking that hamelin like to pic out hard piano music just cause it's difficult, but as he says, they are dead wrong. Hamelin is purely interested in the musical aspects in his pieces, and play with an unsurpassing clarity, which i think his goals with
you are full of it solbap :) Alkan is most definitely musical and you don't see hamelin playing any music which has little or no musical value. Take a look at Ian Pace for an example of that. Hamelin simply plays alot of music that is worthwhile playing that isn't played often just because of its' difficulty. He's doing a great service in doing this.
I just read your comments again and I'm confused now, half the time you seem to be against hamelin and half the time you are for him.. Put me right? :)
This comment has received too many negative votesshow
Re "anonymousQ45"'s comment below: I used to think 'super-virtuoso' meant someone who plays very fast and with no feeling, but here it must also mean someone who plays a lot of wrong notes (as in Horowitz too). The bad howlers Hamelin plays at 0:26 and 1:10 and elsewhere in this performance wouldn't matter at all if he was putting some passion into his performance. On that level Horowitz does at least have something over Hamelin.
Haha, good question! I think it is a virtuoso who is more than just a virtuoso.... a SUPER virtuoso! Although it's silly to add the name super as the word virtuoso justifies its own meaning on its own!
Haha, good question! I think it is a virtuoso who is more than just a virtuoso.... a SUPER virtuoso! Although it's silly to add the name super as the word virtuoso justifies its own meaning on its own!
Hamelin doesn't skip anything... it is the editor's choice to leave out parts , not Hamelin's. Buy the CD if you want better quality too. This post is great for visual, but not for audio.
...when Chopin died, he left to Alkan, in his "will" as it were, a copy of his so called "piano method"...listening to this, esp. in Mr. Hamelin's rendition, I get the idea there was a bit of a sarcastic dig in this...
fredericfranc 3 months ago
This has been flagged as spam show
@HerlockSholmes123 "You were criticizing Alkan's musicality, as if he wasn't able to make music that's appealing to a person's ears" Not *a* person's ears. My ears.
It's my fault. I thought you'd be able to recognize an opinion that didn't have "IMHO" written at the end. Silly me!
th3wing3dpaint3r 4 months ago
@HerlockSholmes123 Well, the fact that you think that Alkan's music is "beautiful" doesn't really prove my comment's nonsensicality, you know? :D
th3wing3dpaint3r 4 months ago
A lot of Alkan's works sound like Liszt only less musical and more showy. It's impressive to see people playing it, not as much fun listening to it.
th3wing3dpaint3r 4 months ago
To play Alkan, Hamelin is the man, indeed!
Francesco Libetta is great playing this work! If you wanna hear something with more quality ;)!
edtskyline 6 months ago
I think the general rule in the piano world at this moment in time is if Hamelin can't play it, it's probably not performable.
chrismanners1 6 months ago
@chrismanners1 If Hamelin can't play it, it's possible he wrote it... ;)
jhpianist 5 months ago
alkan era ritenuto al pari se non superiore a franz litz e thalberg con i quali rivaleggiava si dice che i suoi studi sono persio piu' diffuciki di quelli di litz per lo meno dell edizione 139 non della 136 in ogni caso lostesso litz per me il dio del pianoforte disse che alkan era in possesso di una tecnica perfetta mai vista ..essere considerato al pari di litz dice tutto
giuseppe76761 8 months ago
I think I have found the greatest pianist to ever live. Wonderful piece, but honestly I have never and doubt I will ever hear playing that will top this god.
MasterAzunai 8 months ago
I found another concert of Hamelin but with top quality audio/video on Youtube.
Search for "Hamelin in Stockholm - Chopin-Godowsky - Studies 3/14"
(impossible to put any link on Youtube SUPERBE.
clarification007 1 year ago
Truly amaing virtuosity, I agree with everyone. But this is a sloppy performance with many mistakes. Is there a video of Hamelin performing this as well as on his recording? That's what he deserves to have posted here.
valens1 1 year ago
Francesco Libetta does an exeptional performance too!! ;)!! And the quality of the video is better. What a finale by Hamelin!!! =D!
edtskyline 1 year ago
and i thought my piano piece was too fast... this is AMAZING!!!!!
onewayJess 1 year ago
Holy f*** - I knew he was good but that is a sledge hammer.
Jim341046 1 year ago
amazing how so many notes can be played whithout a single bit of meaning
levotaoceu 1 year ago
@levotaoceu That's too bad maybe you just dont understand his music ?
thx113829000 1 year ago
@thx113829000 I would have to agree with you. It is true that Alkan is a challenging composer...you have to understand what his music is about and what it brings to the rest of us. Personally, I love Alkan...he is...just awesome
Egide0 1 year ago
it surprises me every time how far ahead of his time Alkan actually was. it always takes 3, 4 times before you 'get' Alkan. Most of the people I introduce Alkan to, dislike his music at first, and appreciate it after some time. And true, the more you hear it, the more you want to hear, and the better it gets. a good example is op.31 no.8, that piece really scares the hell out of me. it's brilliant.
DonFrankos 1 year ago
Resembling to Beethoven in some parts...but it's ALKAN!!!!!!!!!! =D!!!! Thanks Egide0!
edtskyline 1 year ago
Hamelin is a piano monstrosity. Shame he does not get the praise he deserves. He needs to do more recordings of the popular composers, to see if his interpretations would blow the competition away.
kilace 1 year ago 27
@kilace He doesn't need to do more recordings of popular composers, people just need to get out of their extremely narrow range of piano repertoire.
jojoereturns 1 year ago
@kilace he won a grammy is holds the title SuperVirtuoso not many pianists hold that title. the right ppl respect him and kno who he is. most ppl dont even get deep into music so who cares wat they think, y'kno?
anonymousQ45 1 year ago
@kilace
I agree he deserves to be know more but with a very super video and audio quality. This one is grade 6 on 10.
clarification007 1 year ago
@kilace His Beethoven is very good but not close to Gieseking (whose is). It's really a mistake to waste your money on Hamelin playing the warhorses. He doesn't really put himself into them. I believe that Beethoven's Fourth (could be Third) piano concerto is on YouTube. He's been doing a lot of touring and less recording. I've heard him twice - no empty seats. A lot of people must know who he is to fill 1800 and then 1600 seats. They were turning people away at the box offices.
GerryRains1946 1 week ago
Diogenes Pendercast is right, awesome music!
chaoscast 2 years ago
Hamelin makes this monstrous piece look so easy. He is not human I tell you!
Waldszenen 2 years ago 2
I want the rest of this sonata! The whole first movement and the second one if possible.
Ixezed 2 years ago
So do I! Apparently it looks like the rest of the world has never heard of Alkan! I am hunting the entire sonata video/audio (recording preferably by Marc Andre Hamelin) or someone with a good interpretation at good quality...so far no luck. I will upload them as soon as I get them.
Ciao!
Egide0 2 years ago 5
I found it!
Look at the video "Marc André Hamelin supervituoso documentary". You will see this part of the first movement, and also the full second one.
It is amazing ! But the sound quality is poor unfortunately :(
Ixezed 2 years ago
Thanks lxezed! I was looking for some recordings and you managed to find the videos! Thanks alot!
TheMrFunGuy 2 years ago
@Egide0 Hamelin's is good. Ronald Smith's is good too, and Pierre Reach's isn't bad. I prefer Smith's 1st movement, but Hamelin's 2nd movement is unreal!
OrangeSodaKing 1 year ago
@Egide0 They are uploaded already, played by Marc-André Hamelin
hanspellegrims 1 year ago
JESUS CHRIST !!!
soyelreferi99 2 years ago
LMAO!!
Egide0 2 years ago
i'm just starting getting into Alkan's music and i've deeply fallen in love with it. Now, as i see this video, feel totally overwhelmed my the technical complexity plus it's fine demand for a delicate interpretation. Thanks for posting !!! =D
soyelreferi99 2 years ago 5
Welcome...I plan on posting more.
Egide0 2 years ago
I just can't understand why is it that Alkan is not as famous as Liszt or Chopin, since his work is simply great in every single way. What do you think Egide0 ?
soyelreferi99 2 years ago
Actually from what I know, Alkan was very good friends with both chopin and liszt. He was more of a chopin style guy...chopin was not a fan of performing in public and as a result, he's done quite a number of public performances...he could trully play with his friends and close relatives...Liszt on the other hand was a star! Alkan had a habit or reputation for being unsocial especially in around 1848 onwards till his death...he avoided the public then...don't know why but it's one reason though
Egide0 2 years ago
@Egide0 : I think it's because his music is difficult to play, and it requires some degree of a understanding to appreciate this type of work. not many performers can say they played Alkan in front of a "real audience" that knows what's being played..it's so addictive..same goes for Medtner, Godovsky, eh, musical poetry..
kamiljj 1 year ago
@Egide0 Because France was admittedly antisemitic at the time, Alkan was passed up on a teaching post that was very important to him. He asked his patron for help, and she was pitiless. Not so long afterward, Alkan had an illegitimate son, whom he was affectionate towards, and spent plenty of time with even when he was a really reclusive person.
These two events were humiliating to him, so add his odd behavior to the mix, and one can imagine how he felt in public. That is why he left society.
Lukecash12 1 year ago
@Egide0 From what I know, he was very well known, and Liszt was in fact scared of Alkan's excellent technique. Alkan was a desired teacher before he even reached adulthood. But he retreated from public in the second half of his life, and therefore was probably forgotten
ciliaspippi 1 year ago
@Egide0 Plus, some of alkan's music is atonal for the period and therefore wasn't popular.
Overall, though, I would say that although some of alkan's pieces can be very musical, some of them are lacking in expression, which would have irked quite a few people of the time period.
thegreatapologist 1 year ago
I'll add on to Egide's reply. Alkan rivaled if not surpassed even Liszt's virtuosity. He is much less popular than Chopin and Liszt not only because of the seeming depression he fell into (some theorize to be the result of not being given a certain job at the Conservatoire) but also because of the music itself. Alkan wrote many pieces requiring great virtuosity which is still a rarity today. -
RSCPT 2 years ago
Rarity in that people like Marc Andre Hamelin are not so common, nor given the proper "popularity" they might deserve. But anyway, the complexities of Alkan's music lost popularity in that people started appreciating music in general less deeply and more superficially, and started paying attention only to things that instantly brought satisfaction. For me, Alkan's music is some of the greatest in the world. Luckily, its popularity is starting to ever so slightly emerge again.
RSCPT 2 years ago 2
@soyelreferi99 because he is not as good as chopin and liszt, he is really good composer, but that's not enough...i find nothing new in his music
stefthe80 1 year ago
@stefthe80 you obviously never listened to his op. 35 nos. 3 and 7
amxmachine 9 months ago
@amxmachine i almost forgot his esquisse increpatio. an amazing piece with much to build on. he must have known no one would listen to it back then so he kept it real unexplored
amxmachine 9 months ago
@soyelreferi99 it must be to do with the immense technique required so most pianists would'nt go near it
afertyus1000 1 year ago
@soyelreferi99 Very simple. The melody is far from easily memorable for a layman, compared with Chopin's Heroic Polonaise, or Liszt's "Love Dream".
thomaskoo 1 year ago
@soyelreferi99 I'm learning this now... It's taken me two weeks just for the first page.. and some of the fast notes are so far away from each other! Hamelin's huge hands just don't show the difficulty here! I'm thinking I've bitten off more than i can chew
Yamsareverytasty 2 years ago
@Yamsareverytasty i'd really like to see your aproeches into this piece ! I think i'll try ti find this piece so as to study it, or at least, for seeing how difficult it is. Those arpeggios at the beggining and the left hand seem to be high demanding, so let me congratulate you in advance =P Do you know where can i find Alkan's partitures on internet ?
tomasich123 2 years ago
The arpeggios at the begginning in the left hand are by far the easiest part actually :P The hard part about the left hand is the jumps you must make, and the chords you must make your hand fit at each end of them. Watching Hamelin's performance here is scary, the speed he plays it. His studio recording is much slower. Just go to imslp(dot)org and look under composers, all of Alkan's music that I've ever looked for is there
Yamsareverytasty 2 years ago
Pieces like Winterwind by Chopin are as fast as this, but the difference is that everything flows, all the notes are within reach while holding the previous note down. Here you have to use your thumb multiple times as opposed to the usual fingering of such a passage of 1 4 2 5 1 4 2 5, and also quite a few times jump from one key to the next (which isn't tooo bad, but at about 15 notes per second its rather hard)
Yamsareverytasty 2 years ago
I just watched Hamelin before and I think his huge hands do things which most pianists cannot due to the size, and that Alkan could, therefore I'm finding this harder than Alkan intended
Yamsareverytasty 2 years ago
Comment removed
kastlesucksTDOTS 2 years ago
some people can be in the zone for very short periods of time. Hamelin lives in the zone.
TwelfthRoot2 2 years ago 4
Just awesome..
200min 2 years ago
Yeah... just simply awesome... this guy apparently has no competition.
Egide0 2 years ago
Apparently? It's obvious just in this video!
Winterbyte 2 years ago 3
Oh yeah... apparent is not the word... he is a fact and he never seems to stop kicking ass on piano whenever he has a chance. He is splendid.
Egide0 2 years ago
0:36 LOL
kastlesucks 2 years ago
He makes it look soooo easy.
Egide0 2 years ago
Are you planning on posting Quasi-faust?
(Documentary part 6/7)
kastlesucksTDOTS 2 years ago
Nah, but I'll keep that in mind. I'll start to work on it as soon as possible.
Egide0 2 years ago
ya that part is kinda cheesy hahahaha
peppersprayinthebutt 2 years ago
I don't think Hamelin suits Alken's songs exactly, just because he plays with such a smooth feel. I think it's meant to be heavier.
kettellive 2 years ago
Maybe you could show us a thing or two. Looking forward to watch your clip. In the meanwhile, get a piano teacher. Heavier??? OMG
carocarter 2 years ago 12
Woah...... that was stunning..........
kastlesucks 2 years ago 3
Haha, yes it was. Oh man, I love your name and your page... Kastlesucks... that is sooo true. I don't know why some dumba** would proclaim everyone to be wrong and incorrect... like his stupid version of the Hungarian rhapsody.
lllove your page!
Egide0 2 years ago
...although no one can dispute his jaw-dropping technique, one must wonder why his playing (phrasing) doesn't "breathe".
bchill69 2 years ago
Okay, now I really need to know what on earth you mean by phrasing that breaths? WTF?
Frozentoes1 2 years ago
"phrasing that breathes" = musical phrases that stretch (get a tiny bit slower) at the end. This is a common practice in classical music that allows the listener to really hear and FEEL the phrase before the next one starts. How much a phrase can or should "breathe" is of course variable and some pianists do the opposite (like Richter) and are always pressing forward, making the music seem rushed or "breathless". I think Hamelin would sound MUCH better it he let the phrases "breathe" a litte.
bchill69 2 years ago
Let's see your version please,he does let it breath but as this alkan is so fast it is not as noticeable
afertyus1000 2 years ago
what a fantastic piece of music. i finally got the score and discovered that apart from the insane speed it isnt actually that incredibly difficult. however it does take ages to learn god damn^^
ShearZone101 2 years ago
EXACTLY!! Marc Andre Hamelin had a huge advantage. His father introduced him to works of composers such as alkan and Godowsky when he was just a young kid.
Egide0 2 years ago
i love hamelin but why have i never seen him do the classic repertoire or concertos????
afertyus1000 2 years ago
he has recorded 2 cds where he plays only haydn sonatas then there are 2 dvds from him where his program include haydn and he plays beethoven concerti. =)
JakWho92 2 years ago
but hamelin stated at the same time that this music werent interesting cause of it's focus on difficulty and lack of musical substance. so even if hamelin could put this composer in his programs just to show he could do it, it just wouldnt be interesting cause of the lack of musicality. so even alkan met his match in regard of extreme demanding techn piano music, but his nemesis has never been recorded, i think (of obvious reasons, anything more difficult than alkan is... nuff said)
solbap 2 years ago
What interview are you talking about?
CodyNelsonMusic 2 years ago
but hamelin stated at the same time that this "music werent interesting cause of it's focus on difficulty and lack of musical substance. " In an interview i saw of Hamelin, he said: "I really do not enjoy sweating over this music, I wish it were easier, but it's worth it for the sheer quality of musical content" (or very similar words) I think if Alkan was focusing on difficulty he could create something far, far harder.
Yamsareverytasty 2 years ago
And how could anyone say 0:57 isnt so, so musical?
Yamsareverytasty 2 years ago
hamelin is quite misunderstood playing extreme music just for the virtuousity aspects. thank god for hamelin, he blows dust from relatively unknown composers and their pieces. no amateur on utube can judge what intentions alkan had, making his masterpieces. in the interview i mentioned in previous texts, there were another franciouss composer which did focus much on difficulty, i dont remember his name, but it's in the interview, where hamelin states: he make alkan look like a "walk in the park"
solbap 2 years ago
doing relatively unknown composers, has undoubtly succeded in doing just that. its undoubtfully difficult to please fools, with such techn difficulty and adding the socalled passion, well if someone wants passion, listen to less technical pieces then, how difficult can that be to understand... sometimes its impossible to combine both, and maybe not even the composers intentions, hehe think of that u jerks, no one knew alkan except from people like chopin who lived next door to him. SO PISS OFF
solbap 2 years ago
there are so many morons on this site looking after failures like the ones of hamelin. There are always a moron complaining about things, but there are an interview with hamelin, a looong one, where he puts out that people does wrong in thinking that hamelin like to pic out hard piano music just cause it's difficult, but as he says, they are dead wrong. Hamelin is purely interested in the musical aspects in his pieces, and play with an unsurpassing clarity, which i think his goals with
solbap 2 years ago 2
you are full of it solbap :) Alkan is most definitely musical and you don't see hamelin playing any music which has little or no musical value. Take a look at Ian Pace for an example of that. Hamelin simply plays alot of music that is worthwhile playing that isn't played often just because of its' difficulty. He's doing a great service in doing this.
Yamsareverytasty 2 years ago
I just read your comments again and I'm confused now, half the time you seem to be against hamelin and half the time you are for him.. Put me right? :)
Yamsareverytasty 2 years ago
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Re "anonymousQ45"'s comment below: I used to think 'super-virtuoso' meant someone who plays very fast and with no feeling, but here it must also mean someone who plays a lot of wrong notes (as in Horowitz too). The bad howlers Hamelin plays at 0:26 and 1:10 and elsewhere in this performance wouldn't matter at all if he was putting some passion into his performance. On that level Horowitz does at least have something over Hamelin.
totallycynical 2 years ago
i don't think horowitz could've played this
afertyus1000 2 years ago 3
Why not? He's played the toughest pieces in the repertoire, and he played Alkan in his youth during his European career.
demosj 2 years ago
i take it back,possibly
afertyus1000 2 years ago
Comment removed
Elicgt 2 years ago
what the hell is a super-virtuoso?
anonymousQ45 2 years ago
Haha, good question! I think it is a virtuoso who is more than just a virtuoso.... a SUPER virtuoso! Although it's silly to add the name super as the word virtuoso justifies its own meaning on its own!
Egide0 2 years ago
Haha, good question! I think it is a virtuoso who is more than just a virtuoso.... a SUPER virtuoso! Although it's silly to add the name super as the word virtuoso justifies its own meaning on its own!
Egide0 2 years ago
The best!
Egide0 3 years ago
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In my opinion francesco libetta play this better.
Aul1kki 3 years ago
Yes, because mainly that his version is clearer than this dude's and also because that Marc Andre Hamelin skips some important parts in this piece.
Egide0 3 years ago
Hamelin doesn't skip anything... it is the editor's choice to leave out parts , not Hamelin's. Buy the CD if you want better quality too. This post is great for visual, but not for audio.
scriabinwasmydad 3 years ago 2
Listen to his studio recording of it. Blows libetta out of the water.
Hellspire 3 years ago 2
Could not agree more. Hamelin's recording as well as Lewenthal's recording from '65 leave every other pianist's recording quite below par.
scriabinwasmydad 2 years ago
An opinion is like a butt hole. Everybody has one. Congratulations.
Frozentoes1 2 years ago
They skip a pretty important part of the first movement in the video :(. Great playing though.
KeithWhalen11 3 years ago
genius total genius!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ironspokes 3 years ago