Symphony for Solo Piano (Charles-Valentin Alkan)

The Symphony for Solo Piano is a large-scale romantic work for piano composed by Charles-Valentin Alkan and published in 1857.

Although it is generally performed as a self-contained work, it comprises studies Nos. 4-7 from the Douze études dans tous les tons mineurs (Twelve Studies in all the minor keys), Op. 39, each title being prefaced by the word Symphonie (French: Symphony). The four movements are titled Allegro, Marche Funèbre, Menuet, and Finale. Much like the Concerto for Solo Piano, the Symphony is written so as to evoke the broad palette of timbres and harmonic textures available to an orchestra. It is an early example of a Piano symphony. In the opinion of François Luguenot, it "does not contain the excesses of [Alkan's] Concerto or the Grande Sonate (Op. 33). But, rather like [Alkan's] Sonatine Op. 61, it proves that Alkan was also capable of writing perfectly balanced and almost ‘Classical’ works." Unlike a standard classical symphony, each movement is in a different key, rising in progressive tonality by a perfect fourth.

The opening movement in C minor is written in sonata form. The thematic material of the Allegro is almost entirely derived from the opening theme, which appears in octaves in the left hand.

The second movement is in ternary form with a legato melody over staccato chords in the first section and a lyrical chorale in the middle section.

François Luguenot wrote:

The second movement is a funeral march in F minor, rather Mahlerian in style. In the original edition the title page read ‘Symphonie: No 2. Marcia funebre sulla morte d’un Uomo da bene ['Funeral march on the death of a good man’], words which have sadly been lost in all subsequent editions. Of course one is reminded of the subtitle of the ‘Marcia funebre’ in Beethoven’s third symphony. But might we not regard this ‘uomo da bene’ as Alkan’s father, Alkan Morhange, who died in 1855, two years before these studies were published?

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