12 Etudes in All the Minor Keys

12 Etudes in All the Minor Keys, Op. 39 (Alkan) – Sheet Music

1. Comme le Vent – 0:00
2. En rhytme Molossique – 4:06
3. Scherzo-diabolico – 12:23

– Symphony for solo piano –
4. First Movement – Allegro Moderato – 16:01
5. Second Movement – Marche funèbre (Andantino) – 26:47
6. Third Movement – Menuet – 32:40
7. Finale – Presto – 38:20

– Concerto for solo piano –
8. First Movement – Allegro Assai – 42:55
9. Second Movement – Adagio – 1:08:54
10. Third Movement – Allegretto alla barbaresca – 1:18:58

11. Overture (Maestoso-Lentement-Allegro) – 1:28:36
12. Le Festin d’Ésope – 1:41:15

– Notes on the pieces –

1. Comme le vent

Comme le vent (Like the wind) is the first of the Études in the minor keys, Op. 39 for solo piano by the French composer Charles-Valentin Alkan. It is in A minor. The tempo marking is prestissimamente (eighth note = 160), and the unusual 2
16 time signature further encourages a fast performance. The piece is mostly quiet, but is interrupted by short loud outbursts.

The piece is technically demanding, requiring digital velocity and dexterity, as well as stamina: lasting on average four and a half minutes, its 23 pages contains long passages of perpetual triplet-32nd notes (triplet demisemiquavers) for the right hand.

2. En rhythme molossique

En rhythme molossique (In molossian rhythm) is the second of the Études in the minor keys, Op. 39 for solo piano by the French composer Charles-Valentin Alkan, published in 1846. It is in D minor. The piece is in rondo form, with two episodes. Ronald Smith compares the theme, involving loud octaves in canon, to the minuet from Joseph Haydn’s string quartet, Op. 76 No. 2.

Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji considered this piece to be one the ‘most original’ of the op. 39 set, ‘the dour, harsh, heavy brutality of the rhythm is magnificently expressed.’

3. Scherzo diabolico

Scherzo diabolico (Diabolical scherzo) is the third of the Études in the minor keys, Op. 39 for solo piano by the French composer Charles-Valentin Alkan. It is in G minor. The piece is in ternary form, beginning in G minor, and having a trio in G major. It shares many similarities with Chopin’s B-flat minor scherzo, Op. 31.

4-7. Symphony for Solo Piano

– General –

The Symphony for Solo Piano is a large-scale romantic work for piano composed by Charles-Valentin Alkan and published in 1857.

Although it is generally performed as a self-contained work, it comprises studies Nos. 4-7 from the Douze études dans tous les tons mineurs (Twelve Studies in all the minor keys), Op. 39, each title being prefaced by the word Symphonie (French: Symphony). The four movements are titled Allegro, Marche Funèbre, Menuet, and Finale. Much like the Concerto for Solo Piano, the Symphony is written so as to evoke the broad palette of timbres and harmonic textures available to an orchestra. It is an early example of a Piano symphony.

8-10. Concerto for solo piano

Concerto for Solo Piano (French: Concerto pour piano seul) is a 3-movement solo piano piece written by Charles-Valentin Alkan. The pieces are part of a 12 piece cycle entitled Douze études dans tous les tons mineurs (12 Studies in the Minor Keys), published in 1857 (although it may have been written some years earlier). With sections marked « Tutti », « Solo » and « Piano », the piece requires the soloist to present the voices of both the orchestra and the soloist. The pianist Jack Gibbons comments: « The style and form of the music take on a monumental quality—rich, thickly set textures and harmonies … conjure up the sound world of a whole orchestra and tax the performer, both physically and mentally, to the limit. »

11. Overture

This piece in B minor is the 11th piece in opus 39. It was published in 1857.

12. Le festin d’Ésope

Le festin d’Ésope (Aesop’s Feast), Op. 39 No. 12, is a piano étude by Charles-Valentin Alkan. It is the final étude in the set Douze études dans tous les tons mineurs (Twelve studies in all minor keys), Op. 39, published in 1857 (although it may have been written during the previous decade). It is a work of twenty-five variations based on an original theme and is in E minor. The technical skills required in the variations are a summation of the preceding études.

The work requires exceptional virtuosic skills, with extremely fast overlapping octaves, fast scales with left accompaniments, enormous leaps, rapid octave chords, tremolos, double octaves and trills. A typical performance of this piece lasts 10 minutes.