Alkan - Overture (Part 1/2)

Etude No. 11 "Overture" Op. 39

Quoted from Ronald Smith's Alkan, The Man, The Music:

"Apart from the seventy-two page first movement of the Concerto the penultimate study entitled Ouverture is the longest, taking about fifteen minutes to perform. It is also the most rarely heard. This may be due less to its lack of surface glitter than to the problem of placing it sensibly in a normal concert programme. Although it makes a marvellous opening item it takes courage to meet its challenge 'cold'. On the other hand its massive style, while tending to dwarf succeeding pieces, is not ideally designed to end a recital. This is a pity, for Ouverture is a unique work; stern, sombre and impressive, and despite its cruel technical demands it is intensely rewarding to study."

Category:

Music

Tags:

• alkan
• liszt

[Aul1kki]

Wonderful! Just wonderful! I can't understand why alkan's music is so underrated.

[solbap]

alkan, your genius, beatiful.

[JackGibbonsHQ]

@chopzart I am the pianist on this recording. This recording was uploaded by Hexameron without my permission - unfortunately Hexameron has a terrible record for uploading 100s of recordings by living artists without giving credit to the artists - the sort of behaviour that should have no place on YouTube. My recording of Alkan's Overture was recorded for the British label ASV in January 1995 and is part of my complete set of the 12 Etudes dans les tons mineurs Opus 39 . Best wishes, Jack Gibbons

[TehHansell]

Wow. I need to learn this!

[ContraereaSerba]

The real forearms workout.

[HandyTheXxxX]

@Reynartthefox Yes, the E# carries through whilst the Enat is cancelled. A bit strange that this is implied, but if you look at the augmented unison on the previous chord, you'll see that the # is the last accidental written, therefore it's theoretically correct as it is.

[AdamKuczynski]

@Lunogiaros Not at all. The first portion of the Ouverture (played in this video) is surprisingly easy. It doesn't require that much stamina/strength, because you can play most of it with a relaxed hand (that is, not tense due to having to stretch octaves all the time): It's easy to let your hand 'bounce' up and down when it's relaxed, allowing you to play repeated chords/notes quickly. That's what makes, for instance, Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody 6 so darned tough to play.

[Lunogiaros]

@11101S This piece requires enormous dexterity, strength and many tricky techniques so I would almost dare to say it's more difficult than most Liszt - Paganini studies combined! La Campanella is more challenging technically though, if perfect playing is required.

[11101S]

Does any one empirically how difficult this piece compares to Liszt-Paganini etudes or sth. similar,couse i want try to play this this year???

[DannyDaWriter]

Schubert really was a genius.

[alexilmagnifico]

@Aul1kki It is too dificult and due to the lack of taste from our times he is so forgoten.... another one is Dussek! Oh Just listen to his sonatas.................... forgoten too :(

[chopzart]

Hi Hexameron, could you give me some information about this specific recording that you've posted? Eg. pianist name, record company, year of release, etc. I'm doing a project on this piece of music and I'd like to include this in my bibliography. Thank you.