Alkan: Character Pieces & Grotesqueries / Viner

$21.99
Label
Piano Classics
Release Date
January 5, 2024
Format
Added to Cart! View cart or continue shopping.


    Featuring ⌄
    • COMPOSER
      Charles Henri Valentin Alkan
    • PERFORMER
      Mark Viner
    Product Details ⌄
    • RELEASE DATE
      January 05, 2024
    • UPC
      5029365102759
    • CATALOG NUMBER
      PCL10275
    • LABEL
      Piano Classics
    • NUMBER OF DISCS
      1
    • GENRE
      Classical
    Works ⌄

    1. Petit conte

      Composer: Charles-Valentin Alkan

      Performer: Mark Viner (Piano)

    2. Pour Monsieur Gurkhaus

      Composer: Charles-Valentin Alkan

      Performer: Mark Viner (Piano)

    3. Jean qui pleure et Jean qui rit

      Composer: Charles-Valentin Alkan

      Performer: Mark Viner (Piano)

    4. Toccatina, Op. 75

      Composer: Charles-Valentin Alkan

      Performer: Mark Viner (Piano)

    5. Désir

      Composer: Charles-Valentin Alkan

      Performer: Mark Viner (Piano)

    6. Capriccio alla soldatesca, Op. 50

      Composer: Charles-Valentin Alkan

      Performer: Mark Viner (Piano)

    7. Le tambour bat aux champs, esquisse, Op. 50bis

      Composer: Charles-Valentin Alkan

      Performer: Mark Viner (Piano)

    8. Fantasticheria

      Composer: Charles-Valentin Alkan

      Performer: Mark Viner (Piano)

    9. Chapeau bas

      Composer: Charles-Valentin Alkan

      Performer: Mark Viner (Piano)

    10. Petites pieces (2), Op. 60

      Composer: Charles-Valentin Alkan

      Performer: Mark Viner (Piano)

    11. Quasi-caccia, Op. 53

      Composer: Charles-Valentin Alkan

      Performer: Mark Viner (Piano)

    12. Le chemin de fer, Op. 27

      Composer: Charles-Valentin Alkan

      Performer: Mark Viner (Piano)

    13. Petites Fantaisies (3), Op. 41

      Composer: Charles-Valentin Alkan

      Performer: Mark Viner (Piano)


Mark Viner’s survey of the complete solo piano music of Alkan continues to turn up discoveries and reveal previously little-known or misunderstood sides of a protean figure in late French romanticism. Viner himself regards Alkan as ‘the most enigmatic figure in the history of music as a whole’.

The sixth volume of his survey focuses not on the grand cycles which have won this series such uniformly glowing reviews, but on sketches and miniatures which demonstrate Alkan’s capacity to charm as well as astound and dazzle his listeners. All these pieces are further illuminated, as before, by his own comprehensive booklet notes. Several of them will be unfamiliar to all except the most dedicated of Alkan connoisseurs.

One of the better known pieces included here, the Toccatina Op. 75, can be counted among Alkan’s finest shorter pieces for the piano, demanding phenomenal dexterity and lightness of touch. At the other end of the expressive scale, Désir is a little fantasy, one of Alkan’s most homely-sounding miniatures, yet still colored by his characteristic use of the ninth.