The concert pianist and writer Karl Lutchmayer presents a relaxed and insightful illustrated talk about the reclusive nineteenth-century avant-garde French composer, Charles-Valentin Alkan.
Liszt, with Chopin, Herz, Pixis, Thalberg and Czerny: 'Hexameron' (A collaborative set of variations, written for an 1837 benefit concert in aid of the poor)
Chopin: Allegro de Concert
Alkan: Concerto for Solo Piano, Op 39
(Alkan enjoys a reputation as a loner, one who set himself apart, away from the glamour – and tawdriness – of the Paris scene. Yet why did this man – oft-feted as the ‘Berlioz of the Piano’ – exile himself? And what impact did this have on his music? This concert, the second in Lutchmayer’s 'Alkan Circle Series', provides an insight into Alkan’s private life, the choices he made, and sets his music against that of his more illustrious and flamboyant peers – Chopin and Liszt, as well as some of the less famous pianists of the day.)