★★★★★
There are four world premiere recordings on this utterly original disc, so if you have even a smidgeon of curiosity about the legend known as Alkan you will probably be buying this album before reading the next sentence. I’ll pause for a second to allow you to complete the purchase.
Ready?
Charles-Valentin Morhange, called Alkan for short, was the most prodigious French pianist that ever lived. Liszt was in awe of his powers and Chopin nominated him as the only musician capable of completing his unfinished etude. A sensitive Alsatian Jew, Alkan became a hermit after the Paris Conservatoire rejected him as head of the piano department and spent the rest of his life a virtual hermit. His piano scores were deemed too difficult for anyone else to perform until Ferruccio Busoni wrapped his huge fingers around them and proclaimed Alkan a genius.
This compilation contains his early works, starting with his opus one, dating from the composer’s barmitzvah year, 1826. It consists of variations on a theme by the virtuosic Daniel Steibelt and it’s hard to avoid the impression that the kid Alkan is poking fun at this pompous German predecessor. Other teenaged works are riddled with, perhaps, too many superfast finger-runs, but Alkan’s originality is never long suppressed. There is something Mozartian in these pieces, with added chutzpah.
The hits on parade are variations on themes from two popular operas by Donizetti — L’elisir d’amore and Anna Bolena — and one by Bellini, I Capuletti e I Montecchi. Just like Liszt, only bigger and brasher. Do not attempt at home.
The pianist is Mark Viner, a British artist immersed in Alkan for the past dozen years, and his series on this label is expected to run to 18 discs. Book me in right now.
