Alkan's transcriptions

[Claude Torres]

The 1st of three CDs of Alkan's transcriptions will be soon released by Toccata Classics
Most are first recordings

Charles-Valentin Alkan
The Complete Transcriptions, Vol. 1 : Mozart
Toccata Classics TOCC0240
José Raúl López, piano
01-06-2015
TT 67:47

• [1] Symphony No. 39 in E flat major, K543 - Minuet and Trio 4:55
• [2] Thamos, König in Ägypten, K345 - "Ne pulvis et civis superbe" 7:27
• [3] Symphony No. 40 in G minor, K550 - Minuet and Trio
• [4-10] String Quartet in A major, K464: II. Andante - Theme and Variations 13:42
• [11-13] Piano Concerto No. 20 in D minor, K466 36:59

http://www.mdt.co.uk/alkan-the-complete-transcriptions-1-jose-raul-lopez-toccata-classics.html

Claude

[TerraEpon]

Interesting. Are his trascriptions more like Liszt and Busoni, or are the reletively more 'straight' (in which case this disc is probably not actually relevant to the forum, as curious as it is)

[Claude Torres]

As far as I can say, these works are Alkan's not Mozart's.
Same as Chopin's Variations on "Là ci darem la mano" for piano and orchestra are by Chopin

Alkan made also transcriptions of works by Bach, Marcello, Gluck, Grétry, Haydn, Beethoven Weber...
Some of these works are available on YouTube. See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mv80YNC84lU

They will be recorded on next CDs by Toccata Classics

Claude

[Herbert Pauls]

It is good to see that someone has turned their attention to these exceedingly rare works. The D minor Concerto in particular is brilliant and should be a real treat if the pianist is up to it. Like Liszt and Busoni (and we could also add Godowsky here as well), Alkan's way of transcribing the classics was uniquely his own, even when (like the others) he was playing it relatively literal or "straight" as is the case with these Mozart pieces. Thus, it is impossible to imagine anyone from the classical era (or more "romantic" times for that matter) transcribing in the manner of Alkan (a rather oblique answer, I realize, to TerraEpon's question). On the other hand, there are those fantastic cadenzas in the concerto. Anyone here who is familiar with Alkan's cadenza to the first cadenza to Beethoven's Third Concerto will roughly know what to expect. I look forward to this series from Toccata.