Marc-André Hamelin Live at Wigmore Hall

"Live at Wigmore Hall" is culled from three recitals presented in June 1994. The programs, designed by producer Ates Orga, bore fanciful titles: The Concert Room, Grand Opera and Song, and The Salon.

The music, much of it transcription, is by composer-performers who pushed the boundaries of their art. Charles-Valentin Alkan (1813-1888), the reclusive French virtuoso and a Hamelin staple, figures largely. His massive conceptions challenge the listener's appreciation of music itself. Take for example the cadenza to Alkan's transcription of the first movement of the Beethoven Piano Concerto #3. Along with the typical recap of the main themes, Alkan maniacally conjoins Beethoven's Fifth symphony for even starker dramatic relief. It lasts six minutes, one third of the entire piece. Hamelin fills the hall with sound, his total control casting an icy glitter. Who is Alkan's audience? In the composer's day, few performers would even attempt these works in public. The rewards of playing them seemed apparent only to a few discerning artists, Franz Liszt among them. Busoni and Petri kept Alkan alive in the early part of our century; Raymond Lewenthal was the first to make extensive recordings in the Sixties; recent champions include pianist-scholar Ronald Smith and Hamelin.

After dispatching that monster, Hamelin relaxes with the fragrant Balakirev reduction of the "Romanza" from Chopin's Piano Concerto #1. It's the least removed from the original of the transcriptions played here. The main course is next: Alkan's "Tres Grandes Etudes" for the hands separately and united. The gauche etude precedes by sixty years the popularity of left hand works, and it's likely nothing written since has been as formidable. At one point, Hamelin negotiates what has to be two pages of leaps in bristling chords. When I first heard it I thought I detected some hesitation on his part; I now chalk it up to rubato! As the heroic chords draw to a close silence. Perhaps Hamelin takes a drink of water here. Then the right hand has its say in a fifteen minute novella of arpeggio studies and five-fingered counterpoint. The music becomes a test of will. As Hamelin lifts his hands from the keys, concluding yet another ringing coda, we can imagine him waving off first aid. He pounces again; beginning from a hush, the soft pedal fully engaged, the hands-united etude emerges, whirring like a dynamo. For some five minutes, the notes whip by at a speed that threatens to invoke relativity. The musical quotient dips a bit here, but in the blistering parallel scales, Alkan does his countryman Charles Hanon proud. Then, abruptly, it's over. The audience sighs with relief, and seeing that Hamelin is free of demonic possession, erupts in applause.

Dessert is sweet. Hamelin shows a beguiling tone in the Busoni "Carmen" Sonatina which treats some of Bizet's familiar themes with mordant éclat. Medtner's "Danza Festiva" closes the program with a whirl.

I hope this pseudo-correspondence gives a sense of the occasion and magnetism generated by these performances. Not all the music is inspired, but Hyperion is to be congratulated for staging this high-wire act. Bravo, Mr. Hamelin!

If you buy only one Hamelin recording, if you buy only one Alkan recording, if you buy only one piano recording, if you buy only one recording PERIOD...Get this one. This is the one recording I'd take to a desert island with me. This is the one recording I'd put in a time capsule to sum up all that is great about my generation. This is the one recording I'd put aboard a spacecraft lest it encounter alien beings intent on studying the music of humanity.

I've been listening to this disc weekly for the past two years and it never fails to amaze me. Every piece on this CD is an absolute gem and every performance a towering masterpiece of interpretation. Let's start with the opening Alkan transcription: Never have I witnessed a more supremely satisfying fusion of genius: The genius of Beethoven as composer, the genius of Alkan as transcriber, and the genius of Marc-Andre Hamelin as interpreter. Every time I listen I find more to praise. Any single track on this CD would be worth the price of the disc but with the mammoth Alkan transcription, the beautiful and well-placed Balakirev transcription, the epic 'Troise Grande Etudes', the highly original Busoni sonatine, and the brilliant encore - Medtner's 'Danza Festiva', this recording is an embarrassment of riches, an absolute feast.

If I'd ever dare to call a performance "perfect", I'd venture with this recital. If there are any flaws here, they're buried under the technical and musical greatness which overrides and

overwhelms.

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   Written on May 9, 2001
   Summary: A fusion of genius
If you buy only one Hamelin recording, if you buy only one Alkan recording, if you buy only one piano recording, if you buy only one recording PERIOD...Get this one. This is the one recording I'd take to a desert island with me. This is the one recording I'd put in a time capsule to sum up all that is great about my generation. This is the one recording I'd put aboard a spacecraft lest it encounter alien beings intent on studying the music of humanity.

I've been listening to this disc weekly for the past two years and it never fails to amaze me. Every piece on this CD is an absolute gem and every performance a towering masterpiece of interpretation. Let's start with the opening Alkan transcription: Never have I witnessed a more supremely satisfying fusion of genius: The genius of Beethoven as composer, the genius of Alkan as transcriber, and the genius of Marc-Andre Hamelin as interpreter. Every time I listen I find more to praise. Any single track on this CD would be worth the price of the disc but with the mammoth Alkan transcription, the beautiful and well-placed Balakirev transcription, the epic 'Troise Grande Etudes', the highly original Busoni sonatine, and the brilliant encore - Medtner's 'Danza Festiva', this recording is an embarrassment of riches, an absolute feast.

If I'd ever dare to call a performance "perfect", I'd venture with this recital. If there are any flaws here, they're buried under the technical and musical greatness which overrides and

overwhelms.

---

   Written on December 2, 2000
   Summary: (No title).
If this disc doesn't blow your top, I don't know what will! First) The Alkan arrangement of Beethoven's First Piano Concerto, First Movement, is absolutely outstanding, and as if that weren't enough, he writes a cadenza which will make the more educated ladies blush and the more open-minded gentlemen holler, positively in exasperation! Second) the Balakirev, very well programmed, which will drive many (non-)Chopin(eqsue in spirit) devotees (if they ever come out of their little rooms to hear this) bonkers, sends chills up my spine and tears to my eyes everytime I hear it. Third) The Alkan composition. The first movement is for left hand, the second for right hand, and the third for both hands re-united. Alkan really had no pity for performers, very similarly to Sorabji who would later follow him -- writing such things as a concerto titled 'for myself alone.' Although Hamelin cheats in the third movement (NON-LEGATO), which only the most devoted of fans will ever notice, everybody will leave thoroughly satisfied. I only wish I were in the audience to witness this major event! Fourth) Busoni's Super Carmen Fantasy. I still don't know whether to laugh or wave my arms in triumph with this piece, but it's thoroughly enjoyable, and it only gets better the more you study it. Busoni was a great master, and his miniatures really are the place to develop a life-long appreciation. Fifth) Medtner's Festive Dance isn't the greatest performance I've heard (that goes to Petri), but the Chops shown are quite impressive, and everything done within really serves as a great conclusion to a disc already winning so many superlatives. This is a disc every owner will cherish. Bravo, Hamelin. Heck -- Hamelin, Hamelin!