Alkan: 11 Pièces dans le style religieux, Op. 72, Étude Alla-Barbaro Mark Viner

• Charles Henri Valentin Alkan (1813 – 1888): 11 Pièces dans le style religieux et 1 transcription du Messie de Hændel, Op. 72:
• 1 Alkan: 11 Pièces dans le style religieux et 1 transcription du Messie de Hændel, Op. 72: I. Tempo Giustissimo 02:53
• 2 Alkan: 11 Pièces dans le style religieux et 1 transcription du Messie de Hændel, Op. 72: II. Andante 05:16
• 3 Alkan: 11 Pièces dans le style religieux et 1 transcription du Messie de Hændel, Op. 72: III. Quasi-Adagio 03:57
• 4 Alkan: 11 Pièces dans le style religieux et 1 transcription du Messie de Hændel, Op. 72: IV. Assez Doucement 03:33
• 5 Alkan: 11 Pièces dans le style religieux et 1 transcription du Messie de Hændel, Op. 72: V. Lentement 03:23
• 6 Alkan: 11 Pièces dans le style religieux et 1 transcription du Messie de Hændel, Op. 72: VI. Majesteusement 03:16
• 7 Alkan: 11 Pièces dans le style religieux et 1 transcription du Messie de Hændel, Op. 72: VII. Molto Moderato 04:50
• 8 Alkan: 11 Pièces dans le style religieux et 1 transcription du Messie de Hændel, Op. 72: VIII. Assez Vite 03:59
• 9 Alkan: 11 Pièces dans le style religieux et 1 transcription du Messie de Hændel, Op. 72: IX. Assez Lentement 07:42
• 10 Alkan: 11 Pièces dans le style religieux et 1 transcription du Messie de Hændel, Op. 72: X. Modérément 04:06
• 11 Alkan: 11 Pièces dans le style religieux et 1 transcription du Messie de Hændel, Op. 72: XI. Dolcemente 07:00
• 12 Alkan: 11 Pièces dans le style religieux et 1 transcription du Messie de Hændel, Op. 72: XII. XIII. Du Messiah de Hændel. Larghetto 03:55
• Etude from the Encyclopédie du pianiste Compositeur:
• 13 Alkan: Etude from the Encyclopédie du pianiste Compositeur 03:53
• Etude Alla-Barbaro:
• 14 Alkan: Etude Alla-Barbaro 02:42
• Total Runtime 01:00:25

Info for Alkan: 11 Pièces dans le style religieux, Op. 72, Étude Alla-Barbaro

The latest volume in a series which is rapidly accumulating critical superlatives. Described by International Piano as ‘one of the most gifted pianists of his generation’, Mark Viner is steadily gaining a reputation as one of Britain’s leading concert pianists; his unique blend of individual artistry combined with his bold exploration of the byways of the piano literature garnering international renown.

Having set down dazzling accounts of the knuckle-breaking studies and solo Concerto, Mark Viner here shows his ability to distil the spirit of Alkan’s more intimate and spiritual works. Liszt is reputed to have said that Alkan was the only pianist before whom he felt ill at ease to perform, so daunting was Alkan’s technique. However, Alkan was a serious scholar of Jewish learning and ancient biblical texts, a preoccupation, not a pastime, that took precedence for him over music and the piano.

The atmosphere and design of this Op.72 cycle (completed in 1867) harkens back to the grave passion instilled in the earlier 25 Préludes Op.31 (1847 - PCL10189). Several of the pieces venture beyond evocations of devotion to present psychologically probing dialogues of conflict and reconciliation. From the Revivalist sturdiness of the cycle’s opening number through the inward contemplation of No.2 to the austere fugue of No.3 and beyond, Alkan continues to spring surprises on the listener, including sudden harmonic clashes which abruptly break the tonal fabric and anticipate 20th-century trends of modernism.

To the Op.72 cycle, Mark Viner adds a rarely heard Etude which Alkan originally composed for a pianistic encyclopedia compiled by his former professor. He concludes with the Etude Alla-Barbaro which was rediscovered as recently as 1996: it remains utterly arresting, unique and decades ahead of its time.

In his authoritative booklet essay, Viner introduces every piece on the album in detail.

This is the 5th instalment of the complete recording of the piano works by Charles-Valentin Alkan by Mark Viner. The piano music of Charles-Valentin Alkan (1813-1888) is fortunately gaining more and more recognition by today's general public. This eccentric pianist-composer lived the most part of his life in total reclusion, embittered by his lack of public success. He was a phenomenal pianist, the only pianist in whose presence the celebrated Franz Liszt was nervous to play! Alkan’s piano works are of colossal substance and difficulty, earning him the nickname of “The Berlioz of the Piano”. Even today only a handful of pianists can do justice to the fierce demands of his music. But it wouldn’t be fair to let the technical difficulties distract the listener from his truly original, personal style, full of wit, energy and deep feelings. British pianist Mark Viner continues his Alkan journey with the “11 Pièces dans le style religieux, Op. 72”. Like much of Alkan’s later music, the writing is of a more conservative idiom, shorn of excess and in which it seems not a note is wasted while the harmonic language is often laced with vintage piquancies that characterise so much of his later output. Enigmatic, sometimes bleak and inward-looking, they show a composer intensely occupied with the relationship between the human condition and religion.

As extras we hear the recently discovered Étude alla-Barbaro (not to be confused with the Etude Op. 35 No. 5, Allegro Barbaro), and the A minor Etude. From beginning to end, this study is wrought almost entirely from an interlocking chordal device, the rhythm of which might best be described as a paradiddle which, at the tempo marking of allegro molto, makes for a rather bruising study in chord playing, the effect of which is screamingly outrageous and, like so much of Alkan’s music, far ahead of its time.

Mark Viner, piano

Mark Viner
Der 23jährige Mark Viner gilt als einer der interessantesten britischen Pianisten der jüngeren Generation. Sein Spiel zeichnet sich durch seine Individualität, Klangfülle, musikalische Integrität und eine makellose Technik aus.

In England hat er vielbeachtete Konzerte u.a. bei dem renommierten Cheltenham Music Festival, in der Wigmore Hall und in St. John's Smith Square in London gegeben; weitere Konzertverpflichtungen haben ihn in das europäische Ausland geführt, u.a. Deutschland, Frankreich, Italien. In Folge seiner Teilnahme beim angesehenen Oxford Oxford Philomusica International Piano Festival wurde er eingeladen, Recitals im Jacqueline du Pré Music Building zu geben.

Im April 2012 ist er mit dem Ersten Preis der ersten C. V. Alkan - P. J. G. Zimmerman International Piano Competition in Athen ausgezeichnet worden. Anfang des Jahres wurde er eingeladen, an einem Meisterkurs mit Lang Lang im Sheldonian Theatre in Oxford teilzunehmen, der von der BBC für einen Dokumentar.lm aufgezeichnet wurde. Weitere Auszeichnungen waren u.a. ein Stipendium des The Countess of Munster Musical Trust und der Sarah Mundlak Memorial Prize for Piano, für den ihn das Royal College of Music für das beste Abschlußkonzert seines Jahrgangs nominierte.

Mark Viner begann mit 11 Jahren mit dem Klavierspiel und kam zwei Jahre später mit einem staatlichen Stipendium an die Purcell School of Music, wo er bei Tessa Nicholson Unterricht hatte. Ein weiteres Stipendium ermöglichte ihm das Studium am Royal College of Music, wo er fünf Jahre lang Schüler von Niel Immelman war.

This album contains no booklet.