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Albert Frantz Plays Alkan

I'm thrilled that the Gramola label has granted me permission to post a "sneak preview" of my forthcoming CD of piano music by Charles-Valentin Alkan (1813-1888), recorded on a gorgeous Bösendorfer Imperial concert grand. I'm honored to be able to share this with you.

The following excerpts are from Alkan's Grand Sonata ("The Four Ages") (right-click the download icon and select "Save," or click the play button to listen in your browser):

First movement excerpt:

Second movement ("Quasi-Faust") excerpt:

Alkan was undoubtedly one of history's greatest composers for the piano, yet his music is still largely unknown to the general public, and even to musicians. After all, what is one to make of an artist whose obituary notice (in the April Fools Day 1888 issue of Le menestrel) reads, "Alkan has just died. It was necessary for him to die in order to suspect his existence"?

One reason for his obscurity lay with his personality: Alkan withdrew from society, even going so far as to rent two apartments, one above the other, leaving the bottom one empty so visitors would assume no one lived there. It is weirdly fitting in this context that Alkan poses with his back to the camera in one of two known photos of him. Alkan was finally recognized late in life with a National Order of the Legion of Honor, France's highest decoration, but he turned the government representatives away with the words, "Gentlemen, at this hour I dine."

The other reason is that his music has been considered virtually unplayable for over a century. This is quite a shame, since even the most demanding of his music -- and those demands can indeed stretch to sheer absurdity -- is ingeniously written for the piano. Alkan's piano writing is every bit as idiomatic as Chopin's and Liszt's, even if it is doubly difficult, and it is no exaggeration to say that he was as much an innovator in piano technique as his more celebrated friends.

Alkan was Chopin's neighbor in Paris, in fact, and when Chopin died in 1849 many of his students went to study with Alkan. Liszt, pretty much universally considered the greatest pianist in history, said that Alkan was the only person in the world he was afraid of playing in front of, and admitted that Alkan's was the greatest piano technique he had ever known. Alkan's music is the most purely athletic music ever written for the piano, as this movement from the sonata reveals.

Nonetheless, I hope my audience is not overwhelmed by the sheer volume and velocity of notes in Alkan's music, but rather moved by his extraordinary musical genius. There is no greater satisfaction than hearing people tell me how much they love this music, and that makes all the hard work more than worthwhile. I hope you enjoy this performance!

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