Alkan: Grand Sonata "The Four Ages", Sonatine & Le festin d'Ésope

Featuring

Marc-André Hamelin
Charles Valentin Alkan

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Critical Reception

Despite being announced in music magazines, Alkan's Grande Sonate received no reviews or public performances after its publication, leading British pianist Ronald Smith to give its first public performance in America in 1973.

Composition History

Charles-Valentin Alkan's Grande Sonate, Op. 33, was composed in the wake of the 1848 Revolution and dedicated to his father.

Compositional Technique

Alkan's Grande Sonate features an unusual sequence of tempi, with four successively slower movements instead of the typical quick-slow-quick pattern.

Composer Biography

Alkan, passionate about the Classics, frequently referenced antiquity in his compositions, as seen in the 'Prometheus' movement of the Grande Sonate.

Performer Biography

Marc-André Hamelin, a 'super-virtuoso' born in Montreal in 1961, is known for his active interest in little-known repertoire, including works by Alkan.

Composer's Artistic Vision

Alkan prefaced his Grande Sonate with a rare official statement on program music, explaining his use of titles for the movements.

Compositional Technique

In the Grande Sonate, Alkan, like Mahler or Nielsen later, allows the tonality to evolve throughout the work without returning to a 'root tonality'.

Rachmaninoff: Piano Sonata No. 2 in B-Flat Minor, Op. 36 / Scriabin: Piano Sonata No. 4 in F-Sharp Major, Op. 30 / Prokofiev: Piano Sonata No. 6 in A Major, Op. 82