Help w/ Alkan's Prelude op. 31 no. 1

[menancyandsam]

I heard some discussion about Alkan's music being great but neglected pieces.  Never having heard any of his music I surfed the web & found his Preludes op. 31 being played for free here https://www.claudiocolombo.net/alkan.htm.

I thought them very beautiful and have been listening to them over and over, truely amazing and moving music.  Some do not sound too difficult.  The 1st prelude is reminiscent of Chopin op. 25 no. 20, kinda?  I very much enjoyed these pieces so much that I wanted to tackle the 1st prelude since this looks/sounds the easiest.  I found the sheetmusic for these preludes as well as many other pieces, on this site for free https://alkan.assos.free.fr/alkan/04_partitions_en.html

Any way here are my questions, please note I've only been playing for a year.  Attached is a pdf of op. 31 no. 1.

1)  sempre molto sostenuto -"with lots of sustaining"- But where do I begin & stop?

1a) What does "2 ped." mean? Is this the una cord pedal, if so do I just floor it through out the piece?

2)  1st chord in the rh, why the three G's, where two would do?  Does having the first G offset to the left tell us to play it slightly ahead of the G octave?  This offsetting notation happens throughout the piece, see 1st chord 2nd measure.

[menancyandsam]

Bump any ideas?

[dnephi]

1A: I would start by pedaling at major chord changes, although he may be going for impressionistic blending.

2: It's the voice of the middle notes.

[ronde_des_sylphes]

1. "Sostenuto" does not strictly apply to the sustaining pedal. It literally means "held from below". Imagine the chords as built up from the bass, with the bass being the foundation. But yes, keep the chords held for their full duration.
1a. Alkan uses 2 Ped to mean "use both the una corda and the sustain pedal".
2. As dnephi said, the use of the "extra" G is a notational device, clarifying what the middle voice is in the rh.

[menancyandsam]

Thank you for your helpfull replies.  Holding the una corda down throughout the piece creates a very nice effect. 

You both stated to pedal at major chord changes.  But what constitutes a major chord change in this piece?  I mean in the first 4 bars the Right Hand has octaves with only the middle voice (3rd note) changing.  Or, are you refering to the chord changes in the Left Hand (ie so that I would pedal twice in each of the first 3 measures and three times in the 4th measure).

Sorry if I'm complicating something elementary, but I'm trying to reproduce the sound from the recording & can't seem to get it right.  More precisely I can't tell from listening when the sustain pedal comes down & up. 

[ronde_des_sylphes]

The recording was made on a digital Yamaha, so I wouldn't be too concerned about getting exactly the same sound.

I would imagine that the intended pedalling is with changes in the lh harmony ie bar 1 beat 1 pedal down; beat 3 change pedal, repeat the process in bars 2 and 3;  bar 4 beat 1 change pedal; beat 2 change pedal; beat 3 change pedal, etc. Note that, although there is an inner voice change in the lh triplets in bar 4 (similarly bar 10), it is essentially a I (2nd inversion) - V - I chord progression.

[menancyandsam]

Thank you for your help Ronde.  It is much appreciated.