Alkan: Le Festin d'Esope -- A 10-min course towards demonic technique

Alkan's "Le Festin d'Esope" in the form of theme and 25+ variations is technically the most difficult piece I ever studied.

I met this piece in an amateur concert around 1995. The pianist was supposed to be good (especially in playing symphonic pieces) in the circle, but I felt the performance was inadequate both musically and technically. The harmony of the piece is basically conservative like that of Mendelssohn and the required technique is mostly quite reasonable. On the other hand, the player, it seemed to me, was emphasizing the oddness of the rhythm, accent, or harmonic imbalance. I did not agree with the use of soft pedal also. (I found it reasonable these days.) Later several recordings became available on the web and I found witty, scary (or pleasant, sometimes showy) performances like mentioned above. Here, tempo was often freely changed from one variation to another for the sake of virtuosity. They sounded overwhelming and far beyond my mechanical skill. I lost interest in Alkan soon.

My interest towards Alkan came back when I read that Busoni and Cortot considered Alkan among the most important giants of piano music. I decided to give it a try after finishing Mendelssohn's Op.35-1. I thought it was possible to play it like Beethoven or Mendelssohn. (Sorry, my playing is not pleasant.) It took two months and here I ended up with an incomplete recording (several mistouches remain despite the Intensive editing -- I admit that the amateur pianist mentioned above was much better than I, at least mechanically). Nevertheless it was rewarding because I studied a set of basic "demonic" techniques in relatively a short while. For all faults I believe the variations themselves are so innovative that everyone is spiced up.

Caution in studying this piece: the cords for the left hand are dense and your fourth finger might be strained. I stopped playing this, but still I have a slight problem. Maybe my octave technique of the left hand is simply poor.

Instrument: Steinway B211