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Saturday, June 27, 2020

Charles-Valentin Alkan - Organ Works Vol. 1 (Kevin Bowyer)


Information

Composer: Charles-Valentin Alkan
  1. (01) Benedictus, Op.54
  2. (02) 12 Études d'Orgue ou de Piano à Pedales pour les Pieds seulement, Nos. 1-6
  3. (08) 11 Grands Préludes et 1 Transcription du Messie de Handel, Op. 66

Kevin Bowyer, organ
Date: 2005
Label: Toccata
https://toccataclassics.com/product/alkan-organ-works-1

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Review

If you have any spare Christmas cash do make this glorious disc a priority. The first in a promised series of three, it scores top marks in every department. Kevin Bowyer displays his customary polish, felicity and technical mastery, playing with an assurance made all the more astounding since this programme – none of it previously recorded – is hardly standard repertoire, certainly outside France. However, he is no stranger to Alkan’s organ oeuvre: he made an acclaimed disc for Nimbus in Salisbury Cathedral in the late 1980s.

By all accounts Alkan’s organ technique equalled his command of the piano. In 1834 he gained the premier prix d’orgue at the Paris Conservatoire and he maintained close friendships with César Franck and Lefébure-Wély, dedicatees respectively of the Grands préludes and the Douze études. The first half-dozen of the Etudes – played on the pedals alone – are strikingly original and much more than mere technical exercises. Dupré considered them to be ‘the complete and indispensable foundation of pedal technique’. The Grands préludes are equally engrossing and entertaining, especially the fiendish 10th, which Ronald Smith termed a ‘Cossack Dance’. As the final notes of the transcription of Handel’s ‘Behold, and See’ hover, teasingly, on a half close, I eagerly await the succeeding volumes.

Blackburn Cathedral’s magnificent Walker/Wood organ (superbly captured by sound engineer Lance Andrews) combined with Bowyer’s effortless artistry and Malcolm MacDonald’s masterful notes make this a must-have recommendation.

-- Malcolm Riley, Gramophone

More reviews:
http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2005/Nov05/Alkan_Organ_TOCC0030.htm
http://www.classicalsource.com/db_control/db_cd_review.php?id=2970
http://www.allmusic.com/album/charles-valentin-alkan-organ-works-vol-1-mw0001382715
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Alkan-Organ-Works-Vol-1/dp/B000BH2TZQ

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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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Kevin Bowyer (born 9 January 1961 in Southend-on-Sea, England) is an English organist, known for his prolific recording and recital career, and his performances of modern and extremely difficult compositions. Bowyer learnt the piano accordion and organ as a child. He studied at the Royal Academy of Music from 1979 to 1982 with organists Christopher Bowers-Broadbent and Douglas Hawkridge, harpsichordist Virginia Black, and Paul Steinitz. Bowyer has performed and broadcast all over the world, and has released around ninety recordings, including all of Bach's organ music for the Nimbus recording label.

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FLAC, tracks
Links in comment
Enjoy!

5 comments:

  1. I have tried to download the above Alkan CD twice and each time it will not allow me to add the final track (19). Is it something I might be doing? Please have a look as I have made no trouble with mega.
    Ian Stuart Hunter

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I downloaded the file myself and extracted without any problems. Can you be more specific? Track 19 has a very long title, perhaps you can shorten it?

      Delete
  2. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  3. "Link does not exist"

    ReplyDelete
  4. Choose one link, copy and paste it to your browser's address bar, wait a few seconds (you may need to click 'Continue' first), then click 'Skip Ad' (or 'Get link').
    If you are asked to download or install anything, IGNORE, only download from file hosting site (mega.nz).
    If MEGA shows 'Bandwidth Limit Exceeded' message, try to create a free account.

    http://raboninco.com/18vED
    or
    http://uii.io/dB5K3
    or
    http://exe.io/J9BwZKNZ

    ReplyDelete