Trois Grandes Etudes Op. 76, is a set of three piano études composed by Charles-Valentin Alkan in 1838 and published in 1839. Although they have the highest opus number of any Alkan work, the etudes were actually composed when he was only 25. Featuring some of his most difficult writing, the first two études are for left hand only and right hand only, respectively.
The third and final étude, "Mouvement Semblable et Perpétuel", originally in C minor, requires both hands but to play in unisson two octaves apart a continuous stream of sixteenth notes.

Charles-Valentin Alkan was born in Paris on November 30, 1813, into a cultured Jewish family where music played a central role. A child prodigy, he entered the Paris Conservatory at a very young age, where he distinguished himself with his exceptional gifts for piano and composition. Very early on, Alkan established himself as one of the most brilliant minds of his generation, admired by his peers for his extraordinary virtuosity and uncommon musical intelligence. However, from the very beginning of his career, he followed a unique path, marked as much by excellence as by isolation.

In 19th-century Paris, dominated by figures such as Chopin and Liszt, Alkan occupied a place apart. A formidable pianist, he explored the technical limits of the instrument with unprecedented audacity. His works for solo piano demanded extreme mastery, but this difficulty was never gratuitous: it served a profound musical thought, often serious, sometimes ironic, always rigorously constructed. Alkan composed pieces of striking originality, combining classical forms, harmonic audacity, and formal experimentation, as evidenced by his Études in all minor keys, his famous Symphony, and his Concerto for solo piano.

However, Alkan gradually withdrew from public life. This withdrawal, long interpreted as a mystery, contributed to forging his legend as a secretive, almost ascetic musician, entirely devoted to study, composition, and intellectual reflection. A great scholar, he was also interested in mathematics, philosophy, and sacred texts, influences that can be found in the density and rigor of his musical writing. His music thus became an interior space, demanding for both the performer and the listener, refusing any concession to ease or fashion.

Upon his death on March 29, 1888, in Paris, Charles-Valentin Alkan fell into relative obscurity. However, the 20th century gradually rediscovered his work and recognized him as a visionary composer ahead of his time. Today, Alkan is regarded as a major and unique figure of French Romanticism: a demanding, solitary creator whose music, both monumental and intimate, wrote a unique page in piano literature, combining rigor of thought and intensity of emotion.

Along his university studies (DEA in musicology, University of Paris IV-Sorbonne), Frédéric Cellier was awarded three first prizes and a development prize at the CNR of Nice and won first prize at the International Competition of Musical Execution - soloist category – of Stresa (Italy).

He is the laureate of the Fondation de France and the Yehudi Menuhin Foundation and accredited teacher at the CNR of Nice, the CNR of Marseille, and at the CRR Olivier Messiaen of Avignon (France).

Frédéric Cellier is the interpreter of Francis Poulenc’s Sonata for clarinet Bb and piano with Jean-Michel Damase, Jean Françaix or Gabriel Tacchino, as well as his own arrangements for clarinet and harp of Erik Satie's Gymnopédies and Gnossiennes with the great French harpist Elizabeth Fontan-Binoche, and for clarinet, piano, and string orchestra of George Gershwin's Rhapsody in blue for Wynton Marsalis or under the baton of Adrian Gershwin, grandson of the composer.

Founder and artistic director of STRADIVARIUS Editions, he is the author of light music pieces played around the world and a considerable number of arrangements of all styles and for all instruments, acclaimed by many personalities in the music world, including Michèle Auric, Jean Françaix, Adrian Gershwin, Wynton Marsalis, Yehudi Menuhin, Madeleine Milhaud, Manuel Rosenthal, Gabriel Tacchino, and Ornella Volta.

"Frédéric Cellier has produced a number of adaptations of Georges Auric's works with such talent and precision that I consider them a natural addition to his chamber music catalogue."
Michèle AURIC - Georges Auric's widow

"To Frédéric Cellier, excellent musician and tireless arranger."
Jean FRANÇAIX - Composer and pianist

"Arranging a musical work is always a delicate and risky exercise, because it requires both modifying it so that it can be played by the desired instruments and preserving its very essence. But that is exactly what Frédéric Cellier has done, preserving the nuances, subtleties and soul of the original works while breathing new life into them.
His arrangements give all the musicians the chance to perform these compositions specially revisited for their instrument, and make music lovers rediscover them in a new light."
Adrian GERSHWIN - George Gershwin’s grandson

"Congratulations for your beautiful new orchestration and rendition of Gershwin’s Rhapsody in blue."
Wynton MARSALIS - Trumpet player, composer, bandleader, general and artistic director of Jazz at Lincoln Center, New York

"It is outstanding that Frédéric Cellier has managed to transpose Saxophone Marmalade from the saxophone to the clarinet. I thank him for it and wish its great and deserved success. "
Manuel ROSENTHAL - Conductor, composer and Maurice Ravel’s pupil

"I am very happy to tell you how much I appreciated your transcription of the Capriccio, based on Francis Poulenc's Le Bal Masqué. It perfectly reflects the spirit and verve of the score for two pianos that I had the opportunity to play and record with Jacques Février, and it was a great pleasure for me to premiere it in Montpellier."
Gabriel TACCHINO - Pianist, Francis Poulenc’s specialist

"I must tell you that I really like your transcriptions and that I think the tone of the instruments you have chosen suits perfectly our beloved composer."
Ornella VOLTA - Musicologist, president of the Erik Satie’s Foundation