Joseph Nolan: The Complete Alkan Organ Works, Vol 1 album review seething with quasi-orchestral colour

"Charles-Valentin Alkan was undoubtedly one of the great composers of his day. Chopin, his friend and one-time nextdoor neighbour, was an enthusiastic admirer, while Liszt cited Alkan as the only person in whose presence he felt nervous performing. Many of his keyboard works are notoriously difficult to play, yet all are immaculately crafted."

"Not only does Nolan's playing exhibit a death-defying virtuosity, Signum's richly spacious recording is guaranteed to put the swankiest of speaker systems through its paces. Much of this first volume is given over to the kaleidoscopic 11 Grands Preludes and one transcription of Handel's Messiah. These are extraordinary and extraordinarily complex works, full of harmonic ticks and quirks and seething with quasi-orchestral colour."

"Nolan's imaginative choices of palette here are exhilarating, his thunderous instrument roaring with an operatic frenzy one minute before dropping to a pianissimo whisper the next. Try the fourth prelude with its perky marching tune, or the sublimity of the Brucknerian ninth, or the bacchanalian 10th, which exudes a heady whiff of the exotic."

Charles-Valentin Alkan was a highly respected composer admired by Chopin and Liszt, yet his music remains outside the mainstream despite its exceptional quality. His keyboard works are notoriously difficult but meticulously crafted. Joseph Nolan has recorded Alkan's complete organ works, comparing the music to Widor on steroids. The first volume features the 11 Grands Preludes and a Handel's Messiah transcription, performed on the organ of Eglise Saint Martin in Luxembourg. These works display extraordinary complexity with harmonic quirks and quasi-orchestral color. Nolan's virtuosic playing and imaginative registration choices showcase the music's kaleidoscopic nature, ranging from operatic frenzy to pianissimo whispers. The recital concludes with Alkan's majestic Impromptu on Luther's A Mighty Fortress Is Our God, an Everest of the organ repertoire.

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