>Dave Lampson wrote:
>
>> I know there are a number of Alkan fans here, so I'm a little
>> surprised that no one has mentioned the death of Alkan specialist
>> extraordinaire Ronald Smith on May 27.  For those who don't know
>> the name: he was an early advocate of Alkan's music on
>> recordings, and many feel he was one of the very best.  ...
>
>For my money, none can compare with John Ogden's renditition of the
>solo piano concerto, and listening to Mr Smith and Mr Ogden's
>recordings of that piece shows Mr Ogden's performance to be secure
>- even sweeping while Mr Smith sounded labored..

I'm afraid I must take issue here.  Ogdon's recording of the Alkan
Concerto is one of his biggest misses - even the notator of the reissue
in the Great Pianists of the 20th Century series obviously feels the
performance lacks something - coherence for a start.  Ogdon was a great
pianist; I think his recording of the Busoni Concerto is superb, ditto
his Liszt solo items.  But not the Alkan.

>This is not to take away from Mr Smith's pioneering efforts on
>behalf of Alkan - although we should not forget Raymond Lewenthal's
>1965 recording of the Symphony and "le Festin d'Escope" which, I
>believe, was a recording first of those works by Alkan.

Before Smith there were a few other proponents - notably Egon Petri,
whose live performance of the Symphony can be heard on a Symposium CD
and who performed the Concerto for the BBC in (IIRC) 1939.

>And, while still honoring Mr Smith's memory, and mindful that John
>Ogden and Raymond Lewenthal are no longer with us, I would say
>emphatically the mantle of Alkan performance has passed to Marc
>Andre Hamelin..  I hope he decides to record the remainder of the
>Op39 etudes in all the minor keys.

Agreed.  I presume you are familiar with his recording of the Concerto
which seems to me to leave all the others in the dust (I admit to not
having heard the Gibbons set yet).

Deryk Barker <[log in to unmask]>