Stevenson - Le Festin d' Alkan

[cz4p32]

This is quite the piece.  Anyone seen or have the score? 

[thalbergmad]

It is 70 pages long and has not been typeset, but it is easily readable.

Looks horridly difficult and possible sounds it as well.

You can get a copy from the Ronald Stevenson Society and all bad bookshops.

Thal

[retrouvailles]

It actually sounds very good. I have a bootleg of Hamelin playing it. It has some nice sections, particularly one where Alkan's Barcarolle is brought to the fore.

[cz4p32]

i have the same bootleg.  Stevenson is such an interesting composer....

[dnephi]

Anyone care to pm me a recording?  I'm quite interested.

[ahinton]

I think that it is a somewhat uneven piece. Its bold and arresting first movement is its gretest strength, its second rather seems to overstay its welcome and the last, for all its ambition, seems not to fulfil that ambition. It is nevertheless a most intriguing work, uniquely combining as it does original composition, transcription, variation, etc. For all that the whole seems to add up to rather less than the sum of its parts, it certainly deserves far more than the one and only performance that I believe it has received to date (which I attended with the pianist Charles Hopkins [1952-2007], who felt pretty much the same about it as I did).

Likewise, the best of Stevenson's other work deserves to be far better known than it is.

Best,

Alistair

[cz4p32]

Intriguing is probably the best word that i could use to describe this piece.

[sorcerer88]

the score is not available freely, and there doesn't seem to be a recording for sale. could someone PM me the hamelin bootleg? as an alkanian, i'm very interested in the piece.

[ahinton]

the score is not available freely, and there doesn't seem to be a recording for sale. could someone PM me the hamelin bootleg? as an alkanian, i'm very interested in the piece.

As has been pointed out, the score IS available from the Ronald Stevenson Society. It is true that the piece has not been commercially recorded. Isn't is amazing, though, how people ask openly in a public arena for a bootleg? I wonder how many people would ask in public "could anyone who has stolen £100 from Marc-André Hamelin please send me some of it?".

That said, the piece, for all the reservations that I expressed about it earlier, is well worthy of anyone's interest, not least your own, so I heartily recommend that you contact the Ronald Stevenson Society and request a copy of its score - you will not be disappointed.

Best,

Alistair

[sorcerer88]

you have a point, but your analogy is weak in that hamelin is obviously not making money from this bootleg, it doesn't hurt anyone if it's spread and it will promote the performer and composer.

unfortunately i don't have the time and maybe not the skill to play such a demanding piece, so i guess it will be unavailable to me for the time being.

by the way: the website doesn't even have a shop, i guess it's hand-to-hand trade (though i bet they have the license).

[ahinton]

you have a point, but your analogy is weak in that hamelin is obviously not making money from this bootleg, it doesn't hurt anyone if it's spread and it will promote the performer and composer.

My very point was that Hamelin is indeed making no money from this bootleg and, since no one would ask his permission before distributing it, this strengthens rather than weakens that analogy!

by the way: the website doesn't even have a shop, i guess it's hand-to-hand trade (though i bet they have the license).

I know it doesn't - nor does The Sorabji Archive website - but that makes no difference to the ability to order material. The RSS website has an order form to download and gives its mailing address, email address and fax number, so where's the problem? The Sorabji Archive website gives more detailed ordering information and we welcome enquiries and orders via email, so again there's no bar to ordering and obtaining the material on offer. I mention this solely as a means of pointing out that a website that advertises available material does not have to have a "shop" or facility to order directly from that site (which is a more expensive option than not having them).

Best,

Alistair

[sorcerer88]

(2nd) point taken, i just wanted to note the absence of a shop.

i just thought that your analogy intended to show how people don't hesitate to pirate content that hurts the owner financially, which is obiously not the case with a bootleg, so i don't see how your analogy is thus strengthened.

other than that i don't want to argue, i'd love to buy a recording or the sheet music if i had the time to learn it.

[thalbergmad]

I mention this solely as a means of pointing out that a website that advertises available material does not have to have a "shop" or facility to order directly from that site (which is a more expensive option than not having them).

I have heard before that having that little shopping basket and internet ordering is rather expensive for website owners, it is also rather impersonal as well.

Sending requests to sites like the RSS, often results in interesting conversations, interesting bits of information/advice and sometimes even discounts.

At least, this is my experience with sites for Chisholm, Lloyd and others.

Thal

[gep]

Lloyd

Webber?  George?
 

[thalbergmad]

George

[ahinton]

(2nd) point taken, i just wanted to note the absence of a shop.

Fine!

i just thought that your analogy intended to show how people don't hesitate to pirate content that hurts the owner financially, which is obiously not the case with a bootleg, so i don't see how your analogy is thus strengthened.

Quite simply because the owner IS hurt financially and morally if his/her work is pirated; some people pirate material and distribute it without the owner's permission and others do the same and charge money for it but in either case the owner is given no opportunity to saction or otherwise such distribution or to charge for the privilege (which he/she is entitled to do if so he/she chooses).

other than that i don't want to argue, i'd love to buy a recording or the sheet music if i had the time to learn it.

Well, you can at least buy the sheet music from the Ronald Stevenson Society, so why not visit its website and download and submit an order form? As a taster, here's the entry on that work on the website:


Festin d’Alkan (1988–97)

| RSS 337 | Manuscript | 65 pages | Grade (d) | Duration 35’ | £16.50 |

Concerto for solo piano without orchestra: “Petit concert en forme d’études”

   1. Free composition
   2. Free transcription (of Alkan’s Barcarolle in G minor, Chants, Book III, op65/6
   3. Free multiple variations

Composer’s note: “This work encapsulates my idea that composition, transcription and variation are all essentially the same thing”.


Go buy and enjoy!

Best,

Alistair

[sordel]

Just necroing this thread to mention (in case it hasn't been mentioned elsewhere) that this work is part of the forthcoming three-disc set of Ronald Stevenson's selected piano works performed by Murray McLachlan. I had assumed that this would be handing over much of its (considerable) running length to a fresh recording of the Passacaglia on DSCH, but in fact the programme looks a lot more interesting than that.

https://www.divine-art.co.uk/CD/21372info.htm