Con Solo Pno: Charles-Valentin Alkan, Marc-Andre Hamelin: Amazon.ca: Music

1. Allegro assai

2. Adagio

3. Allegretto Alla Barbaresca

On this CD:

Concerto da camera for piano in A minor, Op. 10/1
Composed by Charles-Valentin Alkan
with Marc-Andre Hamelin

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Customer Reviews

5 Reviews

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
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Average Customer Review

4.8 out of 5 stars (5 customer reviews)

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5.0 out of 5 stars a gift from God, Jul 13 2004

By A Customer

Not a day goes by when I don't hear this masterpiece in my head. This is a stunning work and even more amazing performance. The only problem I have is that this was recorded on a Yamaha, which I truly feel is the wrong instrument for this work. This will bother only the purist and fans of the Steinway (Hamburg) sound. The only recording that comes remotely close to this is the Ogdon recording. This is a miraculous performance that everyone should own. A legendary performance. PLEASE BUY!

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4.0 out of 5 stars Perhaps Hamelin is a cyborg, Aug 22 2002

By	Mike Salkin (Forestville, CA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Oscar Peterson, the legendary jazz pianist, once said (and I paraphrase) that he would like to do everything that could be done on a piano. It's quite possible that Charles-Valentin Alkan accomplished this in the fifty minutes of his Concerto for Solo Piano. This beyond difficult piece is played with inhuman awe-inspiring aplomb by Hamelin; however, we don't hear much of this piece today not only because of its difficulty, but also for all its overwrought extravagance, the music is not that memorable. The concerto will certainly please the technician and pedant. Those looking for more lyric Romanticism should look elsewhere.

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5.0 out of 5 stars Incendiary piano playing, Jun 1 2002

By	Steven Eldredge (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This astonishing performance is the one that first brought the playing of Canadian super-virtuoso Marc-Andre Hamelin to my attention. In the years since then I have purchased just about everything he has recorded, and heard him play five recitals, one of which featured the Alkan Concerto.

If you have never heard this piece you owe it to yourself to do so. The first movement alone is one of the most unusual and fascinating things I know from the earlier half of the nineteenth century. Cast in alternating 'orchestral' and 'solo' passages like a piano concerto, it is a gigantic work of relentless pianistic fireworks. To see it on the printed page is eye-popping and to hear it played is absolutely hair-raising. There have been previous magnificent readings of this music, by pianists such as John Ogdon and Ronald Smith, but Hamelin easily surpasses them in his command of the architecture of the piece, in the clarity and dryness of his articulation, the unbelievable ease with which he tosses off supremely difficult and thick figurations, and the scorching, almost diabolical energy he produces on every page.

This is truly one of the great piano recordings of all time. If you love fantastic piano playing, make certain to add this to your library.

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Most recent customer reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Wow
This is possibly the greatest piano recording of the 20th century. A stunning achievement!

Published on Oct 9 2001 by Patrick Spillane

5.0 out of 5 stars Incredible composing, Incredible playing
This is an incredible piece of music performed with style and flair. Rarely do you find a piece of such power, brilliance, beauty, and technical complexity. Read more

Published on April 18 2001 by Deborah M. Lisle