 Those encountering Alkan at this phase included the young Vincent d <unk> , who recalled Alkan 's " <unk> , hooked fingers " playing Bach on an Érard pedal piano : " I listened , riveted to the spot by the expressive , crystal @-@ clear playing . " Alkan later played Beethoven 's Op. 110 sonata , of which d <unk> said : " What happened to the great <unk> poem ... I couldn 't begin to describe – above all in the <unk> and the <unk> , where the melody , penetrating the mystery of Death itself , climbs up to a <unk> of light , affected me with an excess of enthusiasm such as I have never experienced since . This was not Liszt — perhaps less perfect , technically — but it had greater intimacy and was more <unk> moving ... " 
