C.V. Alkan: Scherzo-Focoso, Op. 34 скачать в хорошем качестве

C.V. Alkan: Scherzo-Focoso, Op. 34

November 30th marked Charles-Valentin Alkan's 200th birthday! This is definitely the rarest piece in my repertoire. So rare in fact that there are no new publications of this work. Only one publication was issued in 1847. I know that there is one pdf file on imslp of that very first publication, but it is not in the best quality. At the time, I wanted to see if there was a clearer copy of it on the market. I later found out after making phone call after phone call to various music stores, that the were no new editions and that the only first publication that remained was locked up in the rare music section of the University of Michigan music library. The dude on the phone told me that imslp was the only way to get this piece. It turns out that it wasn't so hard to read. The only difficulty, as far as legibility was concerned, was reading the accidentals. But the piece itself was all around insane. The real challenging parts were the left hand-right hand alternations of octaves and sixteenth note runs, the right hand finger patterns over rapid chord changes, and of course playing the final reoccurrence of the larghissmente theme chromatically with whack leaps over an 82 measure F# pedal point! Those whack leaps by the way, were written to be played sinestra destra sinestra destra. I thought what an odd choice of hand positions, especially if they momentarily take your hand far away from the chromatic melody. To keep my right hand in the area of the melodic line, I had to do a lot of jumping in the left hand! It is quite a shame that for so long no one knew this piece even existed. When I was talking to that dude on the phone, I just couldn't believe how a piece with so much character, humor, and nuance, could be unknown. I certainly hope that more performances and new interpretations of this work will provide knowledge to today's classical musicians to discover the genius mind of Charles Valentin Alkan. A quote by Ronald Smith from his book Alkan the Man the Music "Scherzo focoso op. 34 provides a remorseless path to pianistic immolation for all but the most invincible techniques. Obsessional torrents of semiquavers, frequent crossings of the hands and inflexible leaps offer no respite but, unlike many other very taxing pieces, this one both looks and sounds as difficult as it is and its coda generates a final fling of virtuosity to end all such displays. Nevertheless one can but wonder if the substance quite justifies its elaboration. Only a courageous performance might tell."