Alkan - at the pinnacle of virtuosity

[Quijote]

Here's a link to a short article from the G. Henle Verlag publishing house about French composer Charles Valentin Alkan (1813–1888).

https://blog.henle.de/en/2025/09/08/...of-virtuosity/

Apparently he was an absolute wizard on the piano:

There were times when Alkan was considered one of the most important piano wizards. Franz Liszt was downright intimidated by Alkan’s piano playing, and that’s saying something. When Ferruccio Busoni once listed those he considered the most important piano composers after Beethoven, he named Liszt, Chopin, Schumann, Brahms and – Alkan.

At the end of the article there's a YouTube video of Alkan's 12 Etudes dans tous les tons mineurs Op 39. Phew !!

I have to say I know nothing about this composer's music. What about you?

[Chris]

Yes, I have listened to some of his works, like the Op. 39 preludes. Some of it was quite nice, but it never seemed to strike me like the music of Beethoven or Bach. Maybe it would have gripped me more if I had discovered it in my younger days, when the difficulty of playing the music was a more interesting aspect for me.

[Peter]

I knew of him early on as my piano teacher was friends with Ronald Smith, the great interpreter and champion of Alkan. He suffered several musical blows including being denied the appointment of head of piano at the Paris Conservatoire and he was also deeply affected by the death of his friend Chopin who lived in the same Square D'Orleans.