Does a period piano impede my favourite composer?
mainDon’t get me started on Alkan. He’s been an obsession of mine for half a lifetime, and for more than musical reasons. We share a common ancestry among Alsatian Jews and a plethora of cultural affinities.
Charles-Valentin Alkan was a 20th century composer who had the misfortune to live in the 19th, one who anticipated musical ideas that we now ascribe to Mahler and, in some cases, to Zemlinsky and Schoenberg.
Long story.
Suffice it to say that when I was sent a recording of Alkan’s music on an undernourished instrument of his time, my instant reaction was rejection.
Guess what? It’s Album of the Week on sinfinimusic.com. Read here.
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