 Alkan 's return to the concert platform in 1844 was greeted with enthusiasm by critics , who noted the " admirable perfection " of his technique , and lauded him as " a model of science and inspiration " , a " sensation " and an " explosion " . They also commented on the attending celebrities including Liszt , Chopin , Sand and Dumas . In the same year he published his piano étude Le chemin de <unk> , which critics , following Ronald Smith , believe to be the first representation in music of a steam engine . Between 1844 and 1848 Alkan produced a series of virtuoso pieces , the 25 Préludes Op. 31 for piano or organ , and the sonata Op. 33 Les <unk> <unk> . Following an Alkan <unk> in 1848 , the composer Giacomo Meyerbeer was so impressed that he invited the pianist , whom he considered " a most remarkable artist " , to prepare the piano arrangement of the overture to his forthcoming opera , Le prophète . Meyerbeer heard and approved Alkan 's arrangement of the overture for four hands ( which Alkan played with his brother Napoléon ) in 1849 ; published in 1850 , it is the only record of the overture , which was scrapped during rehearsals at the Opéra . 
