Charles-Valentin Alkan - Chamber Music (Dong-Suk Kang; Yvan Chiffoleau; Olivier Gardon)

Information

Composer: Charles-Valentin Alkan

• (01) Grand duo concertant (Violin Sonata in F sharp minor), Op. 21
• (04) Sonate de concert (Cello Sonata in E major), Op. 47
• (08) Piano Trio in G minor, Op. 30

Dong-Suk Kang, violin (1-3, 8-11)
Yvan Chiffoleau, cello (4-11)
Olivier Gardon, piano
Date: 1992/2007
Label: Timpani
http://www.timpani-records.com/1c1013.php

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Review

The question ''Alkan, who was Alkan?'' (which Ronald Smith used to preface his indispensable two-volume study of the composer—London: 1976) could well become obsolete. In August alone two major releases were reviewed in Gramophone, one of them a highly praised Marco Polo disc of the chamber music. Now here is another, not ideally recorded but superbly performed; no small feat when the demands are so savage and incessant. Few composers have written music at once so virtuosic and austere, so acrobatic yet without a trace of poetic luxury or indulgence. The cello sonata's Saltarellafinale provides one of several examples where the pianist is forced to play cascades of notes within a rigidly maintained rhythmic framework (Debussy's beloved sans rigueur is not for Alkan) and here Olivier Gardon, whom I first heard in a magnificent London recital some years ago, provides all the necessary unflagging impetus and momentum.

What masterly force and originality Alkan shows in all three works, whether in the Grand Duo's hypnotic ''L'enfer'' (with its directions to play firstly lourdement, then evangeliquement), or the more outwardly conventional but still wildly idiosyncratic twists and turns of the cello sonata's opening Allegro molto. This sonata (arguably Alkan's masterpiece) contains a Siciliano of a typically sweet-and-sour grace and an Adagio which concludes with shimmering tremolandos conveying a Biblical preface: ''As a dew from the Lord, as the showers upon the grass, that tarrieth not for man, nor waiteth for the sons of men...''. Yet every page of this extraordinary music is alive with Alkan's always unsettling genius and the performances are dazzlingly fleet and assured.

-- Bryce Morrison, Gramophone

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Alkan was counted in Busoni's pantheon of five romantics alongside Chopin, Schumann, Liszt and Brahms. Brahms and Schumann are the references in the euphoricGrand Duo Concertant- nothing short of a 20 or so minute Sonata in three turbulent movements. This is a work of diving romance and if Alkan had stopped in the style of the first movement then we would have been able to 'place' Alkan. Instead we get a second movement that clamours in bass heavy capering for all the world like a picture of a Black Sabbath. As if to make ‘amends’ the finale is back to the helter-skelter tumble of vivacity we find in the first movement. This euphoria carries over into theCello Sonatawhich is in four classically well-tailored movements. Alkan's originality or eccentricity (take your pick) returns for theAdagiowhich is part sentimental and part affecting. This perhaps offers a parallel with Joseph Holbrooke's chamber works in which sublime ideas and treatment suddenly find themselves up against kitsch music hall ditties. A wildsaltarellowith grand manner Hungarian gestures from the piano round out the picture. I can also see where Saint-Saëns may have picked up some of his ideas for the Second Piano Concerto. Torrents of notes and a hyper-romantic melos stride through theTrio. The second movement is tartly decked out with brusque interjections by the strings while the piano rushes wild-eyed about the scene. From time to time Alkan seeks inspiration in Mozartian repose and this is the case here in thelentementmovement although he also made me think of Schubert's String Quintet. The trio pull out all stops and flattens the speed-humps for thevitefinale. Bravo!

These are provocatively fluent performances of little known chamber works by one of the Grainger-like misfits of the nineteenth century. If you are a devotee of the romantic piano (Hyperion, Vox, Genesis) you will not want to be without this. Notes by Harry Halbreich.

-- Rob Barnett, MusicWeb International

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Charles-Valentin Alkan (30 November 1813 – 29 March 1888) was a French composer and pianist. At the height of his fame in the 1830s and 1840s he was, alongside his friends and colleagues Chopin and Liszt, among the leading pianists in Paris, where he spent virtually his entire life. His music requires extreme technical virtuosity, reflecting his own abilities. Busoni ranked Alkan with Liszt, Chopin, Schumann and Brahms as one of the five greatest composers for the piano since Beethoven. For much of the 20th century, Alkan's work remained in obscurity, but from the 1960s onwards it was steadily revived.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles-Valentin_Alkan

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Dong-Suk Kang (born April 28, 1954 in Seoul) is a South Korean violinist. He studied at the Juilliard School and completed his education at the Curtis Institute of Music. Kang has played with renowned orchestras in several continents and worked with conductors such as Charles Dutoit, Kurt Masur, Yehudi Menuhin and Seiji Ozawa. His wide-ranging repertoire includes all the standard works as well as many unusual and neglected works. Kang's recordings include award-winning performances of Elgar's, Walton's, Nielsen's and Sibelius' violin concertos, and the chamber music of Honegger and Alkan.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dong-Suk_Kang

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Olivier Gardon is a French pianist. He was trained by Audibert-Lambert, and went on to study at the Conservatoire de Nice and at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique (CNSM) in Paris with Pierre Sacan. He perfected his skills under the guidance of Jean Fassina, Géza Anda, Lili Kraus, and György Sebök. Throughout his career, Gardon has garnered numerous awards in prestigious international competitions and has been a featured artist at many festivals. Gardon teaches piano at the Conservatoire à rayonnement régional de Paris and is the Artistic Director of the Académie internationale d'été de Nice.
http://oliviergardon.free.fr/en/bio.htm

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