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

“Perhaps Mozart sings more, but Haydn speaks, he chatters, he rejoices and talks about the really important things in life”. After Matthias Kirschnereit’s exploration with the Radio Hesse Symphony Orchestra of the middle ground between the Classical and Romantic eras in works by Hummel, Weber and Mendelssohn, the pianist now turns to Haydn. And that means he is entering the terrain, somewhat neglected even now, of the great Austrian’s piano concertos. All nine keyboard concertos that were definitely written by Haydn are now being released with Matthias Kirschnereit and the Württemberg Chamber Orchestra of Heilbronn, which he directs from the instrument. Included is the Double Concerto in F major with Lena Neudauer on the violin. As a "chamber music treat", Matthias Kirschnereit also had the Piano Trio in G major arranged and recorded. The recording is a co-production with Deutschlandfunk Kultur. Haydn’s “concertos for keyboard instruments”, which are collected in Section XVIII of the Hoboken catalogue, were surely written for a variety of instruments. Pieces originally intended for fortepiano, harpsichord or even organ come to life in the hands of Matthias Kirschnereit on a modern Steinway concert grand. “Here and there I even take the liberty of intervening in the score and – as Joseph Haydn might have done, I trust – I use little ornaments, scales, embellishments and octave sequences to make the whole thing sound even more contemporary”, says the professor at Rostock’s University of Music and Drama. His feeling for Haydn’s keyboard language is particularly evident in the cadenzas. They are not given by Haydn in the original score, giving the soloist the opportunity to turn composer for his complete edition of the concertos. He has arranged them in the true spirit of Haydn, quoting his role model, who would surely have relished the exercise, to his heart’s content. All of the concertos, which may well have been written for use in church, follow a simple principle: three movements, the outer ones fast, the middle one lyrically pensive, exclusively in major keys. Kirschnereit achieves his thrilling clarity of sound and variety of tone above all by means of his constant dialogue with the orchestra. “I direct the orchestra from the keyboard. The aim is to join together to seek and find this spirit, this imagination and freedom in the music. Maybe it’s the case that we have to listen even more closely when there is no conductor.” His aim is to shed light on the music’s eerie byways and expose its hidden depths. © Berlin Classics

Praised for his meticulous fidelity to the composer's intentions, as well as for his rich tonal palette and the warmth of his expressions, Jean-Efflam Bavouzet has won many admirers for his five albums of the complete solo piano music of Claude Debussy. These recordings were produced by Chandos between 2007 and 2009, and they have now been gathered into a handsome box set; each disc is presented with its own cardboard sleeve and the original liner notes that accompanied each release. The roster of artists who have recorded Debussy's keyboard music is a long and distinguished one, though Bavouzet is easily ranked in the upper echelons, equal in stature among such luminaries as Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli, Krystian Zimerman, Maurizio Pollini, Angela Hewitt, Pierre-Laurent Aimard, and Pascal Rogé. Experienced listeners will already have favorite recordings of the Préludes, Images, Estampes, and Études, as well as the perennially popular Suite bergamasque, Children's Corner, and other picturesque pieces. However, many will be won over by the consistency of Bavouzet's playing, and newcomers will find that his disciplined yet gorgeous readings are a great way to begin appreciating these charming classics. Chandos provides excellent sound that gives the piano a clear presence yet takes nothing away from Bavouzet's atmospheric colors or the radiant acoustics. Highly recommended.© TiVo

Johann Kuhnau, Bach’s predecessor at Leipzig, composed biblical sonatas depicting stories– such as David and Goliath – in abstract, worldless, keyboard pieces. Biber’s MysterySonatasare quite different because they form part of a linked meditation on the life ofJesus and therefore present remarkable potential for the interpreter as a kind of ‘Evangelist’.Uniquely, these celebrated works employ fourteen different scordatura tunings where thealtered intervals on the four strings create extraordinarily different ‘sound worlds’ to describeeach event. Singers aside, performers are rarely presented with such heady subject matter tomotivate their interpretations, apart from the usual movement titles indicating tempi, pulseand character.Some pieces may have meaningful titles with a dedication, perhaps to another composer orfriend, and we also come across specific instructions to ‘imitate’ various animals. For instance,Biber’s Battalia – a work which employs fashionable programmatic elements in the besttraditions of a sonata rappresentativa) – portrays both the battle and the lament for the deadin a fashion which requires no further explanation. Likewise, in the case of C.P.E. Bach’s triosonata Sanguineus and Melancholicus, a whole scene is described with meticulous and detailedinstructions for expression, ranging from stubbornness and anger to laughter and ridicule, andeven irony!

By the mid-seventeenth century, musicalcomposition had reached a point whereinvention had converged with technicalmastery. Composers embraced a bass linelively with linearity, often entering intodialogue with the upper voices. Exploratoryharmonic schemes were encompassedwithin larger unified tonalities. Throughrhetorical structures, such as motive,imitation and sequence, composers instilledlogic into their musical arguments. Thesecharacteristics, though rooted in vocalpractice, were being cultivated for the firsttime in musical history for instrumentalists.In other words, the Baroque was born.The featured composers showcasesublime examples of the early ItalianBaroque. Some composers dominate therepertory; others have left behind only ahandful of works. Here, they come togetherto convey the diverse musical landscape atsuch an excitingly rich and creative era.