Charles Valentin Alkan: His Life and His Music

£52.25

Interesting but not perhaps as good as it could have been - I borrowed this book from the library, thinking that I might buy a copy at some point in the future. I was hoping for a book about Alkan that would perhaps complement Ronald Smith s two volume set which was first published well over 20 years ago.I was disappointed to find in the first few pages, several errors which, although not about Alkan, did not inspire confidence in the research. The most glaring of these was a reference to Liszt s Transcendental Etude subtitled Chasse neige as no.6 of this set when, as anyone who knows that set of works, is no.12. There are also some musical examples with, over the top of the passage written (e.g.) Concerto di camera bars 1 - ?? which makes little sense and could easily have been corrected by a proof reader with a little musical knowledge. Many of the first few chapters are written as an expanion of a thesis, and tended to run along the lines of In 1837, Alkan did this, and, In 1838, he did this followed by a list which, although interesting to know, is not interesting to read! There is also, not unexpectedly, quite a lot of musical theory which is only useful if that is something you really understand.On the positive side, there are chapters covering the less well known works (especially the chamber music and the Receuil de Chants) and there is frequent mention of the choral works and also the lieder (which I didn t even know existed). The musical examples are well laid out and easily legible and pertinent (excepting the above errors).Overall, if you are really keen on this composer, buy Ronald Smith s books instead and wait until the price of this drops to a reasonable level.