Etude WoO Charles-Valetin Alkan

Seeker

Today’s piece, the next in my #Unknowncomposersworthhearing series, is Charles-Valetin Alkan’s “Etude Wo0“also known as “Etude sans Opus”. I decided to take on the piece after reading about it in a forum here on PianoTell: https://forum.pianotell.com/d/1796-alkan-etude in May 2025.

As I posted at that time,

“I'm taking it on as a challenge piece… Alkan marked it at quarter=144. The recording [shown in the forum post as example…], according to my metronome is actually a wee bit (mercifully) slower at quarter around 127, then faster and slower, since the playing is (thankfully) not metronomic. Alkan doesn't make a tempo change at the middle section, but I think it needs a bit of time so people can hear what's happening”.

In 1965, shortly after his return to the concert stage and a critically acclaimed recital of Alkan’s works at Town Hall in New York City, I had the opportunity to work on the Finale from Alkan’s “Piano Symphony” with Raymond Lewenthal, IMO, the definitive player of Alkan’s works. He was intense, severe, and entirely scary, and his demonstrations of difficult passages were simultaneously humbling and inspiring. Aprapos of this experience I include here Lewenthal’s comment on “Athletic Form” from his “The Piano Music of Alkan” published by G. Schirmer in 1964.

One of the chief problems in playing Alkan is the great demand made on the pianist’s staying powers. The performer will at some point in his work…find that though he can play separately each difficult passage – correctly and up to tempo – he cannot get through the entire work…without coming to a screeching halt somewhere along the way(!) Here begins the stage of work where athletic form, both physical and mental, must be assiduously cultivated. The player must build up his endurance just the way an athlete does. Anyone not used to doing push-ups may feel himself at death’s door after a sagging attempt at three or four of them, but by building up his resistance gradually, day by day, he can eventually do dozens of them WITHOUT STRAIN [emphasis mine]…

In months of working with the piece to be able to play it without strain, as relaxed as possible, Lewenthal’s words on conditioning were a touchstone. I can now play it at the speed of the example recording, but in the interests of bringing out what I feel as a dance like “lilt” in the paradiddle rhythm, I play it just a bit slower in order that there is time for the effects to be heard. The piece simply does not work MUSICALLY for me at quarter=144; so much of what makes it interesting, at least to me, is lost, so I play it a bit slower. I leave it to you to let me know if you like the piece this way. I hope you like what I’ve done.

You can help me grow my audience and support my work at no cost to you by liking this video and subscribing to my YouTube channel at https://youtube.com/rockvillepianoguy. If you’d like to help more to bring more music like this to you and others, please “buy me a coffee” by using this link: https://buymeacoffee.com/andrewkraus.pianist

For those interested in the technology involved in the recording, the main video was captured with an Olympus OM-5 with the M Zuiko Digital 14-42mm 1:3.5-5.6 lens. Keyboard was captured with a Lenovo FHD Webcam. Audio was captured with a kit-built microphone from JLI Electronics – the Endora. You can read more about the technology inside it on the JLI Electronics website here: https://www.jlielectronics.com/diy-microphone-kits/endora-microphone-kit/. This dual capsule microphone was created by Jules Ruykebusch, and you can hear how it can sound and the many ways it can be used on this recording here: Video was routed via USB into my workstation; audio was routed through XLR to an old, but still functional RME Fireface 800. Both were then routed to OBS for real-time synchronization. Minimal audio post-processing was done in Adobe Audition and video trimming in Premiere Pro.

#Unknowncomposersworthhearing #Alkan #EtudeWoO #Etudesansopus #Endora #Lewenthal #Jules Ruykebusch

pianoloverus

Terrific playing as always! I do however feel that many of Alkan's pieces would be improved if they were somewhat shorter. Even maybe his most popular work, Le Festin d'Ésope, Op. 39, I feel has a few too many variations. Do you agree to some extent at least?

Seeker

pianoloverus I do however feel that many of Alkan's pieces would be improved if they were somewhat shorter

D'accord. That is certainly true for my own taste, and repeating the first section as is written, makes things more of an endurance contest as Lewenthal described. On the other hand, if we have a look here at this 1840, Erard Alkan's aesthetic seems in keeping with his times.

ShiroKuro

@Seeker that's quite the piece! And that ornate creature is quite the piano as well! 😃

pianoloverus be improved if they were somewhat shorter.

I have had this reaction to some pieces, including one I'm playing right now that has two themes which repeat verbatim except at different octaves. I am currently in the process of cutting out a bunch of those and trying to figure out the best way to preserve the color-changes you get by moving through different octaves while reducing the repetitiveness.

I was wondering if it's as repetitive as it is just because the composer was having fun playing it and just wanted to play it more, not for any musical reason. (if that makes sense). It seems like an example of maybe being more fun for the pianist than the listener.

Do you think that's the case with some of the repetitiveness in Alkan?

Ornstein

On youtube this piece always gets 'it's 8-bit video game boss music' comments (I also think of the locomotive engine running, kind of very straightforward) but this way brings out a more interesting caprice-like character. Your approach to the accents and rhythm seems bang on and a great showing of what vision can do for a piece.

I wonder if Moszkowski was inspired by this for the caprice espagnole? He also starts with the repeated E but then takes it in his own direction, it feels like he could've felt a latinate dance undercurrent in the piece as well. And what a crazy thing to be there with Lewenthal himself! That's an insane experience.

Seeker

Ornstein Thanks. I'm glad you liked my vision for the piece, and it really IS, at least IMO, and evidently in yours, more interesting done in this way. I'll have to look at the Moszkowski piece next.

Seeker

ShiroKuro I was wondering if it's as repetitive as it is just because the composer was having fun playing it and just wanted to play it more, not for any musical reason. (if that makes sense). It seems like an example of maybe being more fun for the pianist than the listener.

I don't know. It's an etude, so the repetition makes sense from that point of view, i.e., more exercise. As to enjoying it, knowing the little I do about Alkan, he doesn't strike me as a "let the good times roll" kind of guy. You know how he died, don't you?

ShiroKuro

Seeker It's an etude, so the repetition makes sense from that point of view, i.e., more exercise.

Good point, I wasn't thinking about that! And certainly, if something is more of an exercise versus not, then of course repetition would be more important than enjoyment anyway.

Seeker ou know how he died, don't you?

Actually, no, I don't. But you got my attention! 😃

pianoloverus

Seeker As to enjoying it, knowing the little I do about Alkan, he doesn't strike me as a "let the good times roll" kind of guy. You know how he died, don't you?

I thought that story about Alkan being crushed by a falling bookcase was now considered false although I don't remember where I read that? I just checked with AI:
"No, the popular story that composer Charles-Valentin Alkan died from a falling bookcase is a myth, though it was spread by figures like Isidor Philipp. The reality, confirmed by a pupil's letter, is that he died in his kitchen after pulling a heavy coat/umbrella rack down on himself, possibly after fainting or slipping, and was found by his concierge. The bookcase legend likely stems from an older tale about another Jewish scholar and was embellished over time, notes Robert Greenberg."

Seeker

pianoloverus No, the popular story that composer Charles-Valentin Alkan died from a falling bookcase is a myth, though it was spread by figures like Isidor Philipp. The reality, confirmed by a pupil's letter, is that he died in his kitchen after pulling a heavy coat/umbrella rack down on himself, possibly after fainting or slipping, and was found by his concierge.

True, and something I didn't know until today. Sigh. The debunking of the bookcase legend wasn't on my radar at all. While not quite as enchanting as him dying as he passed out grabbing a Talmud from the top shelf of his bookcase, he did die the same way, i.e., he passed out; something fell on him, and died.

Peyton

Wow, wish I could "take on" a piece of this difficulty but... ha. Great playing as always.