Nocturnes, Impromptus & Zorzicos (Vol. 8)

Description

Since their release, each volume of this exhaustive study of Alkan's piano music has been eagerly awaited by the specialist press and has garnered enthusiastic reviews. Through his playing, research, and writings, Mark Viner has become the foremost modern advocate of a composer still widely misunderstood and perpetually underestimated. Volume 8 of this study is organized according to Alkan's treatment of three genres: the nocturne, the impromptu, and the zorcico. The austere dignity and sober classicism of the Nocturne Op. 22 (published in 1844) bring it close to the aesthetic of the father of the nocturne, John Field. Published in 1857, the two Nocturnes Op. 57 explore varied tonalities, the first imbued with a dark and mystical atmosphere, the second soaring with unusual rapidity before a conclusion marked by composure and dignity. Composed in 1859, the fourth and final nocturne evokes the song of the cricket. Op. 32 No. 1 is a collection of four impromptus composed in the second half of the 1840s, each bearing an evocative title: "Charme," "Amitié," "Foi," and, in the "Fantasietta alla moresca," a true musical sketch of North Africa. Op. 32 No. 2 is another collection of four impromptus, contemporary with the first volume. Constantly experimenting with musical parameters, Alkan wrote the first three of this collection in quintuple meter (five beats per measure) and the fourth in septuple meter, sometimes evoking the mystical world of Erik Satie, several decades ahead of its time. La Réconciliation, petit caprice Op. 42 is another piece in quintuple meter, this time explicitly evoking a Basque dance called zortziko. Furthermore, the history of the Zorcico, an Iberian dance (in 5/4 time), without an opus number, is even more complex than usual, as Viner explains in his detailed liner notes: it is the first recording faithful to Alkan's original manuscript. The volume concludes with a musical fireworks display: Une fusée, introduction et impromptu Op. 55, sweeping across the keyboard with quasi-toccata energy before exploding into a flamboyant finale in D major. "If Alkan could play it the way Viner does here," remarked Jeremy Nicholas about a piece from Volume 6 of this retrospective, "one better understands why he was the only pianist before whom Liszt hesitated to play... Lovers of transcendental piano (magnificently recorded, by the way) and exuberant virtuosity can indulge themselves."