Sonatine, Op.61
Op. 61
Charles-Valentin Alkan 1813–1888
Op. 61
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Difficulty
Our estimate Virtuoso
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Themes & character
Compact but ferocious·Four movements·Diminutive title misleads·Published 1861
At a glance
- Catalogue
- Op. 61
About the piece
Published in 1861, the Sonatine is among the most tightly argued works Alkan wrote, four movements of considerable substance compressed into around twenty minutes.
The diminutive title is characteristically misleading. The music is thorny, harmonically severe and technically punishing, and the piece has become one of the more frequently performed Alkan works among the pianists who have taken up his cause since his rediscovery.
The composer
Charles-Valentin Alkan
1813–1888
Charles-Valentin Alkan was a French composer and virtuoso pianist. At the height of his fame in the 1830s and 1840s he was, alongside his friends and colleagues Frédéric Chopin and Franz Liszt, among the leading pianists in Paris, a city in which he spent virtually his entire life.
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