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Alkan: Paraphrases, Marches & Symphonie for Solo Piano, Op. 39

Mark Viner

Classical - Released January 29, 2021 | Piano Classics

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The latest volume in a revelatory Alkan series from an English pianist with a string of critically acclaimed albums of rare repertoire from the Golden Age of the piano virtuoso to his credit. Perhaps the most enigmatic figure in the history of music as a whole, let alone the 19th century, Charles-Valentin Alkan remains one of the most intriguing and alluring names among the pantheon of pianist-composers. According to Franz Liszt, Alkan possessed the finest technique he had ever seen yet preferred the life of a recluse. The outstanding masterpiece of the album is the Symphonie for solo piano which Alkan drew from his set of 12 Studies, Op. 39. It opens with an Allegro which is one of the composer’s most darkly impassioned conceptions, in which declamatory rhetoric, passionate outbursts and towering climaxes are all bound by a tightly organised structure. The piano writing is distinctly orchestral in nature, hence the ‘symphonic’ designation, demanding that the intrepid soloist make his or her way through towering conglomerations of sometimes ten note chords, thick, chordal tremoli and volleys of double octaves: only fully accredited virtuosi need apply! The Symphonie is placed on this album as the climax to a sequence of grand marches conceived on a similarly grand scale. They include the Three Cavalry Marches, Op. 39, which find Alkan at his most concise, in the Berliozian No. 1, his most eccentric (the trio of No. 2) and whimsical (No. 3). Like them, the Marche funèbre, Op. 26 bears witness to Alkan’s ability to channel a latent and, at times, menacing power through material of the slightest substance. The following Marche triomphale, Op. 27 is a massive, swaggering affair, in contrast to the ruminative melancholy of the opening paraphrase Op. 45 on a poem by Legouvé set in a cemetery and cast in Alkan’s most elegiac vein. A profound sadness also inflects the opening section of the composer’s ingenious instrumental setting of Psalm 137, ‘By the waters of Babylon’. The booklet contains an excellent essay on Alkan and his works by the artist himself. © Piano Classics
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Alkan Grande Sonate, "Les Quatre Ages", Symphonie Pour Piano Solo

Vincenzo Maltempo

Classical - Released May 2, 2012 | Piano Classics

Booklet Distinctions 5 de Diapason
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Brahms: Symphonie No. 4: Schoenberg: Variations, Op. 31

Berlin Deutsches Symphony Orchestra

Classical - Released August 15, 2007 | harmonia mundi

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Brahms: Concerto pour violon & orchestre: Symphonie no. 4

Les Dissonances

Classical - Released March 10, 2014 | Les Dissonances

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Antonín Dvořák: Symphonie du nouveau monde

Philippe Fournier

Classical - Released October 7, 2000 | iMD-ORCHESTRE-CONFLUENCES

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Brahms: Concerto pour Violon & Orchestre - Symphonie No. 4

Les Dissonances

Classical - Released March 10, 2014 | Les Dissonances

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Berlioz Symphonie Fantastique / Brahms Sinfonies 1 and 4: Igor Markevitch

Igor Markevitch

Classical - Released March 3, 2023 | UME - Global Clearing House

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BRAHMS: SYMPHONIE No. 3, SYNFONIE No. 4

Dimitri Mitropoulos

Classical - Released April 12, 2023 | Nar Classical

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Furtwängler dirige Brahms (Symphonie n° 4 / 1943) et Strauss (Lieder / 1942)

Wilhelm Furtwängler

Classical - Released April 1, 2020 | Alexandre Bak - Tahra

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Brahms: Symphonie No. 4, Op. 98

Hans-Peter

Symphonic Music - Released January 1, 1998 | Ars Musici

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For Clara: Works by Schumann & Brahms

Hélène Grimaud

Classical - Released September 8, 2023 | Deutsche Grammophon (DG)

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Robert Schumann was never more purely Romantic than in his set of piano pieces Kreisleriana, Op. 16. The set is of extramusical, literary inspiration, taking its name from a character in stories by E.T.A. Hoffmann, and it features the explosive imagination of the young Schumann at its best. Schumann announced the work, which he apparently wrote in four days, rather breathlessly to his inamorata, Clara, and more than almost any other work of his, it seems to spill over the boundaries of the short piano piece. Hélène Grimaud has recorded the work before, but she seems to have added intensity this time around. She is nervously excited in the faster virtuosic numbers, but sample No. 4 to hear her marvelous control over the tonal instability that appears in many of these pieces. The Brahms Intermezzi, Op. 117, were also "For Clara," sent to Clara Schumann toward the end of his life; the two had remained friends, and here, in Grimaud's evocation of tempestuous old-school pianism, one is stirred to wonder what Clara sounded like playing this music. The connection of the nine Lieder und Gesänge, Op. 32, of Brahms to Clara is less clear, and the set, with baritone Konstantin Krimmel on the vocals, may seem like an afterthought; the three performances on the album were all made at different places and times. However, taken on its own terms, it is a fine performance of this set, consisting entirely of settings of texts by Eastern poets. Krimmel catches the rather mystical nature of the songs, and Grimaud, with whom he has worked in the past, is effective as an accompanist. This is an important entry in Grimaud's catalog, with a Kreisleriana that is as fine as any.© James Manheim /TiVo
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Pancrace Royer: Surprising Royer, Orchestral Suites

Les Talens Lyriques

Symphonic Music - Released May 5, 2023 | Aparté

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Beyond the neglect of French Baroque music in general, it is a bit hard to understand why composer Pancrace Royer was almost completely unknown until Christophe Rousset came along to champion him, first in harpsichord music and now, with these suites of music drawn from operas, in orchestral music. In the 18th century, Royer was quite well known and admired among others by Rameau, whose music he helped along considerably. Royer certainly inhabited Rameau's stylistic world, but from the evidence here, his music is distinctive and merits the adjective "surprising" that Rousset has attached to it. It is colorful, given to unexpected turns of harmony, and vivid in its evocation of the exotic scenes of French opera. Sample the "Air pour les turcs" ("Air for the Turks") from Zaïde, reine de Grenade, with its crackling percussion. Royer challenged his orchestra with virtuoso ensemble writing in the likes of the "Premier et second tambourins" from Almasis, and Rousset and Les Talens Lyriques step up with precise, vigorous readings that one imagines would have made the composer overjoyed. The inclusion of two alternate versions for movements from Zaïde is also unusual and gives insight into the compositional thinking of the day. Essential for specialists and enthusiasts interested in the French Baroque, this album is a lot of fun for anyone, with only overdone church sound detracting from the overall effect. © James Manheim /TiVo
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Brahms: The Symphonies

Johannes Brahms

Classical - Released April 21, 2017 | BSO Classics

Hi-Res Distinctions Gramophone Editor's Choice
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Brahms: Symphonies Nos. 2 & 4 & Tragic Overture

Otto Klemperer

Classical - Released June 9, 2023 | Warner Classics

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