You never see Comme played in competitions because it’s not standard repertoire. Judges don’t like to see Alkan in general. Comme le vent is almost physically impossible at tempo, but so is the Schumann Toccata at a 6 minute runtime (with the repeat).
I don’t know how you came to the conclusion that the Toccata is seemingly as popular as something like La Campanella. The Toccata is almost never touched in competitions, especially junior ones, and yet it is considered standard repertoire. It is almost never even played well by established concert pianists.
Furthermore, Barere plays it extremely sloppily and changes the tempo whenever he feels like it is too fast.
And to follow all the phrasing marks, voicing, singing lines, and dynamics in the Toccata is another world of its own. Comme le vent has almost zero of any of these, at least not in a musically important fashion.
However I would indeed like to post a sightrape of Comme
I like Alkan, he used to be one of the top 5 favorites for me. The issue is that I think he has about five works in particular that are genius and the rest of them range from pretty good to trite garbage.
Alkan is very straightforward. If you are good at octaves and you can play basic runs, you should be able to navigate through the majority of Alkan. To play Schumann well is so much more difficult, I have played and performed works like Allegro Barbaro, Le Preux, 20 Ans, and 30 Ans and they all gave me less trouble than the Op.12 Fantasiestucke. And Op.12 is considered one of the easier works out of Schumann’s larger suites
The exception for me is Alkan’s Op.76. I have tried my best to learn it but it is much harder than anything by Schumann and maybe even Liszt, and it is also musically good. Certainly beats Schumann’s Op.76.
Haha da ZHOE writing iz only mo difficult becuz he wrote awkwardly az fuck fo da 88. da KAN much mo penizdick
and tiz relative becuz da ZHOE writez unpenizdick zheeyat but doeznt demand inzane tempi whereaz da KAN writez zmooth penizdick writin but demandz u to play it
agreed about da KANz amount ov quality workz, dere iz a lot ov forgettable zheeyatz. Mozt ov hiz prelz op31 are borin zheeyatz.
BUT I feel greatah attraction to da BEZT 90 minz ov da KANz workz den I wud to da BEZT 90 minz ov da ZHOE.
if it had to be a 3-4 recital zeriez, ov courze da zhoe wud win
My argument iznt fo all KAN to entah mainztream rep, juz da kreem ov da kropp lyk da Zymph
dayum da zkep actually zee da toccata in compz fairly regularly, but not zo much in da pazt few yearz. obv da COMME not played in compz, but tiz alzo zeemingly apparent dat da typical comp level mofo lykly unable to play it
pozz diz why da KAN thought to be lezz m*zical, cuz people haff lowah ztandardz n think tiz zufficient to hit all da notez. dere iz zhorely az much to cuntzidah in da COMME az da garbagezheeyat zhumann toccata. da performance ztandardz iz unmuzical, not da piece. if da ACHOO pozt a zightrape den u zhud attempt a hyper-moizt/colorful zheeyat to raize da bar
Dun the Schumann and Liszt take review shits on the Kan in his day? What were there criticisms again other than a bitchiness streak in them we forget about.
Here tiz this housewives reunion shite:
Robert Schumann reviewed the Op. 15 Etudes and was “startled by such false, unnatural art.” Schumann could find nothing favorable to say. “We always make allowances for erring talent, provided only that the talent. exists, and a little music besides; but when the former is doubtful, and nothing but the latter to be found but black on black, we turn away in discouragement.”
Yes, we looked into this last year as I recall, and the only Liszt comments were late in life, vague and complimentary. There was no evidence at all of the ‘Liszt feared Alkan’s technique’ or any rubbish like that.
I think there is a reference in Walker vol 1, around about the time Liszt goes to Geneva with Marie, where he’s talking about Alkan having written stuff worthy of investigation, but I’m going purely by memory in saying that.
Da Meph doesn’t believe that the difficulty of Alkan’s music is the reason it isn’t played that much. Look who has played Alkan’s music: Lewenthal, Smith, Gibbons, Petri (and Arrau from what I have read). Obviously good pianist, but their technic weren’t better than other Pianista. Just my two cents.
Favorite Alkan works:
Symphony for solo piano
Concerto first solo piano 3rd mvt
Festin d’esope
Grande sonata
Sonatina
Schumann was a fair reviewer. He trashed some of Kan’s works and complimented some others, like Op.74, saying " “[Here] we find such an excellent jest on operatic music in no. 6 [ L’Opéra ] that a better one could scarcely be imagined … The composer … well understands the rarer effects of his instrument.”
Only on this forum would the results pan out like this.
Because this forum is about piano, especially fast and furious piano. Schumann was not a writer of finger gymnastics, virtuostic flourishes or big gigantic climaxes. He rightly loses the poll in the context of this forum.
I used to hate the Schumann Toccata, as well as Schumann. I used to think Alkan was the greatest composer and Comme was one of the best etudes ever written.
But basic music theory says otherwise. Comme le Vent is one of the most harmonically trite pieces Alkan ever wrote. It is conventional and shows the most superficial understanding of modulation, almost on a Mereaux level of anti-musicality. Nowhere at all as interesting as 20 ans, Op.63, or even the early Concerti da camera.
Schumann’s Toccata is harmonically fascinating. It uses counterpoint, phrases, syncopation, chromaticism, and modulation all to such a bizarre level that it is difficult to believe that it was written in 1837.
Trying to convince me that Comme le Vent is great is like convincing a guy to be an astronaut just because he played with spaceships as a toddler. That ship has long sailed.
Ahahahah fuckkkkkk, da zepp vil zummarize yo revelatory journey in CAPCUNT form
: I lyk cock
: In cuntverzion therapy, we vil learn all about da beauty of da female body. How zenzuoz da lynz, how zoft da facial feachaz, how juicy da jigglin jugz, how well-rounded da protrudin flezh of da buttockz
Haha da Comme iz da leazt zubztantial piece from da op39 but az much az u can argue dat dezpite itz note zpinnin n relative harmonic zimplicity - itz juz a wikid HYPAH Tarantula wiz gensui rhythm n a very fun piece
Op39 no 2 n 3 are very intereztin piecez ztructurally…
da rhythme - haf a central climax , gensui rhythmic feel, n den haz a hauntin fadin away ztylee, very unuzual ztrukcha
Da zcherzo haf alzo a hauntin effect ov cuntraztin da openin diabolique forte partz by makin da repeat wizin da form a pianizzimo ghozt ov itz formah zelf
Nobody zeemz to mention da Overture op39no11…It really grew on me and now I love it, very arrezting opening and a very effective final climax, catchy themez alzo
Garrick Ohlsson thinks of music in this way too. “…modulates to F with a C# in the bass. A C#! Genius!” I think it comes across in his playing too, which is clear and illustrative but artistically rather boneheaded.
For me it’s simply how the music sounds, and what it expresses. Sometimes advanced harmony is necessary, other times not.
toccata in compz fairly regularly, but not zo much in da pazt few yearz. obv da COMME not played in compz, but tiz alzo zeemingly apparent dat da typical comp level mofo lykly unable to play it
wuz alwayz cumplimentary about da Kan, describing him as “very interesting” etc.
that space travel is possible and that the earth is round.
: I lyk cock 
: In cuntverzion therapy, we vil learn all about da beauty of da female body. How zenzuoz da lynz, how zoft da facial feachaz, how juicy da jigglin jugz, how well-rounded da protrudin flezh of da buttockz