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Alkan: Complete Piano Music, Vol. 5 / Viner
Piano Classics

Alkan: Complete Piano Music, Vol. 5 / Viner

$20.99

Details

Composer
Charles-Valentin Alkan
Artist
Mark Viner
Format
CD
Label
Piano Classics
Released
Jun 24, 2022
Catalog #
PCL10197
UPC
5029365101974

About

Described by International Piano as ‘one of the most gifted pianists of his generation’, Mark Viner is steadily gaining a reputation as one of Britain’s leading concert pianists; his unique blend of individual artistry combined with his bold exploration of the byways of the piano literature garnering international renown. Having set down dazzling accounts of the knuckle-breaking studies and solo Concerto, Mark Viner here shows his ability to distil the spirit of Alkan’s more intimate and spiritual works.

Alkan was a serious scholar of Jewish learning and ancient biblical texts, a preoccupation, not a pastime, that took precedence for him over music and the piano. The atmosphere and design of this Op.72 cycle (completed in 1867) harkens back to the grave passion instilled in the earlier 25 Préludes Op.31 (1847 - PCL10189). Several of the pieces venture beyond evocations of devotion to present psychologically probing dialogues of conflict and reconciliation. From the Revivalist sturdiness of the cycle’s opening number through the inward contemplation of No.2 to the austere fugue of No.3 and beyond, Alkan continues to spring surprises on the listener, including sudden harmonic clashes which abruptly break the tonal fabric and anticipate 20th-century trends of modernism. To the Op.72 cycle, Mark Viner adds a rarely heard Etude which Alkan originally composed for a pianistic encyclopedia compiled by his former professor. He concludes with the Etude Alla-Barbaro which was rediscovered as recently as 1996.

Tracklist 14 tracks

  1. 1 No. 1 in C Major: Tempo giustissimo 02:53
    Track
    1
    Title
    No. 1 in C Major: Tempo giustissimo
    Duration
    02:53
    Composer
    Charles-Valentin Alkan
    Performer
    Mark Viner
  2. 2 No. 2 in A Major: Andantino 05:16
    Track
    2
    Title
    No. 2 in A Major: Andantino
    Duration
    05:16
    Composer
    Charles-Valentin Alkan
    Performer
    Mark Viner
  3. 3 No. 3 in D Minor: Quasi-adagio 03:57
    Track
    3
    Title
    No. 3 in D Minor: Quasi-adagio
    Duration
    03:57
    Composer
    Charles-Valentin Alkan
    Performer
    Mark Viner
  4. 4 No. 4 in G Major: Assez doucement 03:33
    Track
    4
    Title
    No. 4 in G Major: Assez doucement
    Duration
    03:33
    Composer
    Charles-Valentin Alkan
    Performer
    Mark Viner
  5. 5 No. 5 in D Minor: Lentement 03:23
    Track
    5
    Title
    No. 5 in D Minor: Lentement
    Duration
    03:23
    Composer
    Charles-Valentin Alkan
    Performer
    Mark Viner
  6. 6 No. 6 in B-Flat Major: Majesteusement 03:16
    Track
    6
    Title
    No. 6 in B-Flat Major: Majesteusement
    Duration
    03:16
    Composer
    Charles-Valentin Alkan
    Performer
    Mark Viner
  7. 7 No. 7 in F Major: Molto moderato 04:50
    Track
    7
    Title
    No. 7 in F Major: Molto moderato
    Duration
    04:50
    Composer
    Charles-Valentin Alkan
    Performer
    Mark Viner
  8. 8 No. 8 in A Minor: Assez vite 03:59
    Track
    8
    Title
    No. 8 in A Minor: Assez vite
    Duration
    03:59
    Composer
    Charles-Valentin Alkan
    Performer
    Mark Viner
  9. 9 No. 9 in E-Flat Major: Assez lentement 07:42
    Track
    9
    Title
    No. 9 in E-Flat Major: Assez lentement
    Duration
    07:42
    Composer
    Charles-Valentin Alkan
    Performer
    Mark Viner
  10. 10 No. 10 in D Minor: Modérément 04:06
    Track
    10
    Title
    No. 10 in D Minor: Modérément
    Duration
    04:06
    Composer
    Charles-Valentin Alkan
    Performer
    Mark Viner
  11. 11 No. 11 in A Minor: Dolcemente 07:00
    Track
    11
    Title
    No. 11 in A Minor: Dolcemente
    Duration
    07:00
    Composer
    Charles-Valentin Alkan
    Performer
    Mark Viner
  12. 12 Handel - Messiah, HWV 56, Part I: Pastoral Symphony 03:57
    Track
    12
    Title
    Handel - Messiah, HWV 56, Part I: Pastoral Symphony
    Duration
    03:57
    Composer
    Charles-Valentin Alkan
    Performer
    Mark Viner
  13. 13 Encyclopédie du Pianiste Compositeur, No. 2: Etude 03:50
    Track
    13
    Title
    Encyclopédie du Pianiste Compositeur, No. 2: Etude
    Duration
    03:50
    Composer
    Charles-Valentin Alkan
    Performer
    Mark Viner
  14. 14 12 Études dans les tons majeurs, Op. 35: No. 5 in F Major, "Allegro barbaro" 02:41
    Track
    14
    Title
    12 Études dans les tons majeurs, Op. 35: No. 5 in F Major, "Allegro barbaro"
    Duration
    02:41
    Composer
    Charles-Valentin Alkan
    Performer
    Mark Viner