Esquisses Op. 63

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CHARLES-VALENTIN ALKAN
Esquisses Op. 63
Laurent Martin (piano)

[ Naxos / CD ]

Release Date: Tuesday 8 August 2006

This item is currently out of stock. It may take 6 or more weeks to obtain from when you place your order as this is a specialist product.

"...The range of moods and styles covered - from 'antique' to forward-looking, from serene to darkly disturbed - is startlingly wide. For this reason, and at Naxos's asking price, the disc is worth consideration..." ***Performance**Sound.
- Max Loppert, BBC Music Magazine July 2002

"I list the Alkan Esquisses because this is the best "complete" introduction to Alkan's very short works, from the ordinary to the bizarre. The Alkan Symphony receives a masterful performance by a pianist firmly connected to his music."
- Paul Rapoport, Fanfare, November/December, 2002, The Want List 2002

"...The range of moods and styles covered - from 'antique' to forward-looking, from serene to darkly disturbed - is startlingly wide. For this reason, and at Naxos's asking price, the disc is worth consideration..." ***Performance**Sound.
- Max Loppert, BBC Music Magazine July 2002

Admirably performed by French pianist Laurent Martin, these 48 brief character pieces, plus a postscript, in various styles in moods. Some suggest Baroque style. Others belong to Alkan's ages of flamboyant romantic pianists. There is charm, there is drama, there is humor and a lot of imagination.

- Peter Knapp, The Patriot Ledger 4 June 2002

If you'd like to access the full scope of Alkan's quirky style in bite-sized proportions rather than piling into the Concerto for Solo Piano, Les Quartre Ages, and other large-scale concoctions, here's a disc for you...Laurent Martin commands Alkan's idiom well, and his fingers toss off the composer's fastest flurries of notes (e.g. the Fantasie, No. 16) with next to no effort

- Jed Distler, Classics Today 20 June 2002

"Despite the notorious technical difficulties associated with Alkan's music, Laurent Martin's delicate touch permits the 1861 Esquisses to drift effortlessly from the keyboard, making subtle sense of the composer's choice of the title ('Sketches')."

- Tarik O'Regan, The Observer 28 April 2002

"The 49 miniatures that make the set of Esquisses disprove the notion that Alkan never knew when to stop, and proves that not all of his considerable output for the piano stretches sometimes indifferent material over huge, unremarkable musical structures."

- Andrew Clements, The Guardian 26 April 2002

Tracks:

Esquisses, Op. 63

La vision 03:03
Le staccatissimo 01:03
Le legatissimo 01:26
Les cloches 00:58
Les inities 02:28
Fuguette 01:31
Le frisson 01:45
Pseudo - Naivete 01:15
Confidence 02:14
Increpatio 01:25
Les soupirs 01:45
Barcarollette 01:15
Ressouvenir 02:49
Duettino 01:12
Tutti de Concerto dans le genre ancien 01:04
Fantaisie 01:18
Petit prelude a 3 00:44
Liedchen 01:11
Graces 01:35
Petite marche villageoise 01:43
Morituri te salutant 02:20
Innocenza 01:21
L'Homme aux sabots 00:38
Contredanse 01:05
La poursuite 00:43
Petit air 00:44
Rigaudon 00:58
Inflexibilite 00:55
Delire 00:54
Petit air dolent 01:30
Debut de quatuor 01:04
Minuettino 03:10
Fais Dodo 00:57
Odi profanum vulgus et arceo 02:28
Musique militaire 01:12
Toccatina 01:08
Scherzettino 01:00
Les bons souhaits 01:37
Heraclite et Democrite 02:11
Attendez - moi sous l'orme 00:42
Les enharmoniques 01:54
Petit air 00:55
Notturnino - Innamorato 01:15
Transports 00:45
Les diablotins 02:33
Le premier billet doux 01:02
Scherzetto 02:06
En songe 01:22
Laus Deo 04:17