Esquisses Op 63

Even Performances; Good Sound
The challenge facing Laurent Martin in making 49 diverse pieces interesting and musical is immense. But I dare say he overcomes it to a great extent. The Esquisses ("Sketches" in English) cover a wide variety of moods and colors. Alkan excelled himself here, penning vignettes of great variety and even charm. From haunting (No. 4 Les cloches & No. 26 Petit air) to exciting (No. 15 Tutti de Concerto dans le genre ancien & No. 27 Rigaudon) to charmingly grotesque (No. 23 L'Homme aux sabots & No. 45 Les diablotins), these pieces are sure to please anyone who has found pleasure in Alkan's unique piano idiom. The performance, while not of transcendental feel of Hamlin or Gibbon's recordings, is certainly more than adequate. Martin's technique is unfailing; his musicality almost equally so. This CD, first released on the Marco Polo label, has better sound than most Marco Polo releases from the late 80s and early 90s (this CD was recorded in December 1990), but still lacks slightly. Sometimes the piano sound is slightly brash, but the ear adjusts: I cannot call the recording quality anything less than good. The well-written notes by the ubiquitous Keith Anderson mentions each of the pieces at least once. Overall, this is an invaluable release of a fascinating work by a much neglected romantic period composer. Charles-Valentin Alkan truly was something else. These 49 pieces demonstrate that well. Total Timing: 74'29"

Alkan's Esquisses Op. 63
In Alkan's day he was joined by Chopin, Liszt, Schumann and Brahms as one of the greatest composers for the piano in the age after the death of Beethoven. At the same time he won praise as one of the most remarkable pianists of his time. Nevertheless much of his life was spent in eccentric obscurity and he withdrew from society. Thankfully, in recent years there has been a revival of interest in his music. This interest has yet to result in any widespread attention to Alkan among many pianists since Alkan's music is so technical demanding there are only a handful of pianists who can successfully play his music. Alkan composed his 48 Motifs he called Esquisses (Sketches), in the 1860's, the pieces took him fifteen years to write. Esquisses are arranged in a key sequence and open with the dreamy La vision. Le staccatissimo sounds very much like Scarlatti, suggesting the link that Alkan provides between his love he had for earlier music, and the age of Chopin and Schumann. Le legatissimo offers a contrast in mood and technique and is followed by Les cloches, the opening bell ringing out and leading to the Baroque Les inities and a Fughette, stretto, pedal point and all. Le frisson moves, with its fanciful title, to a romantic world, with underlying menace. Confidence suggests at first a Mendelssohn Song without Words in form and texture before moving subtly through different and unexpected keys, but Increpatio lurches into a very different mood of bitter feelings and menace, dissolved with the sighs of Les soupirs, suggesting in delicacy of nuance the palette of Debussy. The Barcarollette, has an interesting choice of time signature, 18/8, which sets the melody against a softly heard accompaniment and Ressouvenir, with its opening solo, proceeds to a more conventional melody with repeated chordal accompaniment, before the re appearance of the minor opening melody, capped by a final move to the major. The lively Duettino, suggesting Rameau, is followed by an ironic glance at a Baroque Tutti de Concerto dans le genre ancien and a Fantaisie in the virtuoso style Liszt. In contrast is the Baroque Petit Prelude for three voices and the infinite variety of the sketches continues with a little song without words, Liedchen, and the charming Graces. The village musicians of Petite marche villageoise show considerable enterprise in harmony and there is a premonition of Satie in the choice of title and form of Morituri te salutant, Those who are about to die salute you, with its rising and descending chromatic harmonies more sinister than the turbulent gladiatorial arenas of ancient Rome suggested in the title. The cheerful Contredanse is succeeded by Poursuite, the melancholy little song Petit air and a version of the traditional dance, the Rigaudon. Inflexibilite has a Baroque feel , a contrast to the romantic madness of Delire. Fais Dodo, Go to sleep, in nursery language, is of the genre of Schumann's Scenes of Childhood, a contrast again in mood to Odi profanum vulgus et arceo, a tag from Horace that seems to accord with the style of life chosen by Alkan. Musique militaire has its soldiers in energetic frame of mind. It is followed by a little Toccata, again given a diminutive form, Toccatina, a tour de force, and a miniature Scherzo, dubbed Scherzettino. Calm returns with Les bons souhaits, Good Wishes, its obvious benevolence followed by a curious picture of two contrasted figures, the Greek philosopher Heraclitus, for whom everything was in a state of flux, and the Epicurean atomist philosopher Democritus, in argument together in Heraclite et Democrite. Attendez moi sous l orme, Wait for me under the elm tree, suggests a tryst, while the twists of harmony in Les enharmoniques are prophetic in their musical language. Petit air is simplicitic and the Notturnino is a melodically irregular Mendelssohnian barcarolle. Le premier billet doux, the first love letter, is of ingenuous simplicity, its air of innocence dispelled in the following Scherzetto and its contrasting Trioletto which sounds a lot like Beethoven. En songe, dreaming, restores the serenity of the opening vision, until its conclusion. The postscript, Laus Deo, Praise to God, is introduced by the tolling of the bells, followed by a solemn chorale, ending as the bells return in brief conclusion. Each piece is relatively short ranging from a little less than a minute to the longest 4 minutes. It's a wonderful cd to listen to when you want to read a book or just relax.

Tour de Force
This recording calmed my worries about what one could expect from 49 individual pieces. It was simply superb, stretching over a wide range of emotions and technical hurdles. It is, though, a CD that requires repeated listenings in order to catch all the nuances and the enormous detail encapsulated in track. The pieces are more like musical vignettes, superb short musical tales told superbly and deeply. Perhaps it is the oddness of the opus that prevents frequent performances. (A careful selection would seem an almost perfect entry for the Van Cliburn competition.) Many are over almost before they get started prompting my entreaty to listen, listen and listen again.

amazing variety, spanning the spectrum of human emotions.
I was very pleased with this recording. Although I am certainly not used to listening to pieces of music less than three minutes long (I tend to go for longer, more ambitious works), it is very refreshing to hear miniatures like these being performed by such a pianist as Laurent Martin. The range of moods and colours which Alkan manages to portray here is amazing; from the clumsy footsteps of the man in boots ("L'homme aux sabots") to the impressionistic images created in "Les Soupirs" (prophetic of Debussy - who studied Alkan's works while at the Paris Conservatoire). From the cantankerous, darkly petulant nature of "Increpatio", to the colourful yet spiky devilry of the tone clusters in "Les Diablotins". Typically for Alkan, he finishes off the work as a whole with a hymn of praise to God, "Laus Deo". This deeply religious man shows conclusive evidence here of dedication to one's art, composing his feelings onto manuscript for our historical and musical benefit. The performance is great, the sound exemplary, the price better than anywhere else, three cheers for Naxos who pull off another Alkan treat. No Alkanholic or even pianophile should be without it.