Charles Valentin Alkan (1813 - 1888)
Étude op. 39 Nr. 8 "Concerto 1re Partie" (Allegro assai) - long version
published 1857
During his lifetime, Charles Valentin Alkan suffered from the malicious review of his opus 15 by Robert Schumann. Due to his personal character, he soon fell into undeserved oblivion. Few knew his compositions, even less valued them, including such illustrious names as Liszt and Busoni. An additional burden for Alkan's music is the extremely unfortunate fact that so far it has only fallen victim to the piano athletes who have turned Alkan into a piano monster. But this is by no means! Rather, he is a real piano poet who could easily write his piano music into the hand of the pianist. His etudes are nowhere near as difficult as Liszt's. In particular, the extensive etude presented here can be played page by page prima vista. I am aware that this statement destroys a false legend that will particularly annoy the sporty piano players from Velocistan. I gladly accept this for Alkan's beautiful, poetic piano music.
