Charles-Valentin Alkan: Le festin d'Esope (Marc-André Hamelin)

[TheJesse1633]

still awesome awesome awesome!

[TheWanderingNight]

Nearly snapped my hand attempting Variation 5-6 at speed, let alone the rest of the piece.

But I agree, this is within the reach of many professional and quasi-professional players, I think. Musically, it's also straightforward for the most part. Of course, a well-executed interpretation is another thing altogether...

[s1earle]

Compares very favourably to that of both Smith and Lewenthal: However I find the performance of Michael Ponti the best.

[RPMurp]

In the context of this wonderfully overdone piece I had to laugh at the comment offered "for all intensive purposes." For all intents and purposes that mis-quoted expression might even be appropriate here.

[ahmadti]

do you notice there is no dislikes here

i think Because all people reach this video know what they want

[VIKTORGOMEZFERRER]

inquietante, aceleró mis pulsaciones. Algo me pregunta, algo muerde, algo que ya estaba aquí pero que aún no había escuchado

[ilikeyouallot]

this guy is bold!!!

[newFranzFerencLiszt]

For sure his tecnique is one of the best well formed ever

[pianoashmead]

I know this music is, to all intensive purposes, monumentally hard. However, I really don't think that should be any excuse. This is well within the pianistic reach of most of the pianists who would be classed as the "World Greats" of the moment, and as such I see no reason why we shouldn't hear both this and many, many other works by Alkan in the concert halls and on the recital circuits. WAKE UP VIRTUOSI! We want more live Alkan.

Great recording as well, by the way.

[maxsnafu]

Well said!!!

[MathijsGiltjes1993]

From 8.05 on, it's just majestic! :')

[ExVash]

Alkan is so underrated - perhaps because of its sheer difficulty to play?

Anyway, Hamelin shows off his genius and virtuosity yet again. Amazing.

[wateva92]

where can i download this to put on my iPod? it's fucking incredible.

[DarkRaimundo]

Haha! I'm glad you've enjoyed it! Just Download DVDVideoSoft and you can convert the video into an mp3 file.

Have a nice day!

[wateva92]

you have a splendid day as well. :) thank you

[f1f1s]

The whole performance is flawless but

4:17 - 4:46 is the most astounding part! I wish Hamelin came to Russia and gave a performance!

Just shocking - he played it 10 % faster than Ringeissen ang 2 times more masterfully than Gibbons, who fails at the variation XVII, and in Jack's recording we can clearly hear the sound of "second attempt".

Bravo Hamelin!

[YourSilentWhisper]

This makes me happy :)

[addeex1]

Hamelin is a truely a great pianist, and Alkans music is just incredible :O

[uranrising]

My favourite wotk by Alkan. And hamelin is splendid. met him once.

The theme and first variation were used as a BBC TV arts programme in the late 60s. [Hoping to find out which.]

[Olderfish]

The programme was "Look of the Week", which was on BBC 2 each weekend.

[gamma357]

The clarity and speed is amazing. I would have to agree that Hamelin is the best pianist at the moment.

[morvensky]

In depends. The ones from the most prestigious conservatories can most likely play this. The ones in the lower level conservatories probably couldn't play this (or at least not that well) the ones in the average conservatories might be able to play with a lot of practice.

[llamasownyou]

I think it depends more on the student than the conservatory...

[morvensky]

Yes, but the better the conservatory, the student is generally going to be better.

[Androslav]

I think that Hamelin is the best pianist of the presnet time.

[morvensky]

I wouldn't say this is "obscenely difficult". It is quite hard but most conservatory students can probably play this. Good playing by the way.

[OrangeSodaKing]

It's not obscenely difficult, but it is still very difficult. I mean, there are some crazy variations, but I think that they could be handled with a lot of practice.

[thunder1909]

I agree, as hard as this does look, it is not impossibly difficult to play. You're also right, most conservatory graduates could probably take this on no problem.

[brianCIM]

@thunder1909 they could play......HORRENDOUSLY. I know of a handful of conservatory students and i doubt they could give convincing performances of this. It takes a student of unswerving dediactaion, passion for the score and a fascination with Akan's quite unique soundworld and life to conjure up a performance even as 25% successful as the miracles of sound re-created here.

[yourlostlittlegirl]

very queer but i love it

[teoakinyel]

one of my favorite hamelin recordings

thank you for uploading this.

[OrangeSodaKing]

I love Alkan, and Hamelin is a truly amazing pianist.

[mickyj300x]

Very nice. Thanks for the upload.