Some of Beethoven's sonatas pose formidable technical difficulties, as do Ligeti's etudes.
"Eccentricity" entails different things for a French Jew born in 1813 and a Russian nobleman born 60 years later. Too general to be meaningful.
What does Alkan's originality consist of exactly? What new sonorities did he introduce? The world record for the most octaves and arpeggios? He has so much more in common with someone like Thalberg than with the actually original composers of his generation, such as Chopin. Not to mention an early 20th century innovator such as Scriabin.
If you want to keep discussing this, do me a solid and open a thread on Alkan. This is to discuss and enjoy whatever can be more or less plausibly filed under "Russian modernism."
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