# Sorabj's piano works



## TrevBus

I just received a gift the other day from a friend. It is by a composer I have heard the name but none of the music. Full name Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabj. I have yet to listen but understand he composed only solo piano music and was considered one of the best England had to offer. Just curious what others know and think about him and his music? Any other recommendations of his work? Thanks.

'Concerto Per Suonare Da Me Solo' Jonathan Powell Piano.


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## Garlic

From the little I've heard, there is a weird obsessive quality about his work that you may find fascinating or infuriating depending on your taste. I've been meaning to explore his music for a while now.


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## Cosmos

I personally don't see the appeal in Sorabji's music. Much of it is long and over-complicated to the point of insanity, and I find it a little too avant-garde at times 

There are a few pieces I believe are worth mentioning/checking out

Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue (after Bach). This piece is a transcription of JS Bach's Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue, only with Sorabji's titanic piano skills added into the mix. If you are not so open minded about composers rewriting the works of others, I would steer clear of this one. Otherwise, this is one of his more accessible pieces.

Sonata No. 1 for piano. This piece is shows Sorabji's earlier style, in which he resembles Ravel to the nth degree. It's more toned down than his other works, and more accessible (in my opinion)

Fantaisie-Espagnole. This one is surprisingly more melodic, and evocative of Spanish music (though no where near the lines of Albeniz's Iberia)

Some bigger works:

His organ symphonies. They are very, very long, so you might just want to listen to sections. Like some Lovecraftian monster, listening to them for too long will make you go mad. Or fall asleep.

Opus Clavicembalisticum. Yep, the one and only notorious beast. This 4 hour+ work will not be easy to stomach in one sitting. There are some sections that are interesting or filled with energy, so pick and choose.


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## Orpheus

Sorabji is not the easiest of composers to get into, but his music is not without interest for those who are prepared to make the effort. Opus C is fascinating in its way, but a bit of an unwieldy monstrosity for the neophyte (or almost anyone) to try to get to grips with, and isn't really as typical of his work as is generally supposed (though it certainly isn't the only one that is of mammoth length and complexity). He wrote plenty more compact works too.

Some of his most attractive works, and among the most accessible of those which utilise something like his typical mature style, are his long nocturne style pieces, Djâmî , Gulistan, and Le jardin perfumé. I believe these have all been issued separately (there are at least 2 alternative versions of Gulistan currently available besides the one I'm going to mention) but all three of them are together on the Sorabji: Legendary works for Piano set issued by the BMS and played by Michael Habermann, along with two more cds of Sorabji's piano music, available on Amazon (or wherever you choose to obtain it).

I would definitely advise you to go for this set if you're interested in exploring Sorabji further and are unsure of where to start; it's quite reasonably priced compared to much of his available output and contains a fairly representative selection, so if you wish to explore any of these works further it makes a good starting point. So far as I know the best recorded version of Opus C is the one by Jonathan Powell, part of which is available here, along with a fair amount of other downloadable, public domain Sorabji: http://www.sorabji-files.com/music.php


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## norman bates

Orpheus said:


> Some of his most attractive works, and among the most accessible of those which utilise something like his typical mature style, are his long nocturne style pieces, Djâmî , Gulistan, and Le jardin perfumé.


fascinating works, to me those pieces sound like debussy on lsd


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## TrevBus

Thanks everyone for comments and advice. Listned to a couple of tracks. While the playing is excellent, this music is going to take awhile to absorb.


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## DeepR

I'm not familiar with his music, but do remember listening to an Etude on youtube which sounded like a totally mad and warped version of Chopin Op. 10 No. 1 . I can't find it anymore, anyone know which one I mean?


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## Forte

I don't know a very large amount about Sorabji, but his ideas are fascinating. I have a score of _Opus Clavicembalisticum_ - it's 252 pages of solo piano music, mostly written in three staves! And it doesn't necessarily sound too good if you don't like atonal music, or fierce banging on the piano. But the architecture of his pieces is astounding in scope. Here's the layout of the work:

Pars Prima
I. Introito - A 3 minute introduction
II. Preludio corale - A chorale with variations based on the opening theme in the first movement, about 13 minutes
III. Fuga I - A 4 voice fugue, about 12 minutes
IV. Fantasia - Incredible virtuosity, about 5 minutes
V. Fuga a Due Soggeti - Double fugue, about 16 minutes

Pars Altera
VI. Interludium primum - Theme with 49 variation, about 45 minutes (!)
VII. Cadenza I - Extreme virtuosity, about 5 minutes
VIII. Fuga a Tre Soggeti - Triple fugue, about 35 minutes (!)

_Pars Tertia_
IX. Interludium alterum - A toccata, an adagio, and a passacaglia with 81 variations, about an hour (!!)
X. Cadenza II - Formidable virtuosity, only 3 minutes though
XI. Fuga a Quattro Soggeti - Quadruple fugue (geezus), about 35 minutes
XII. Coda stretta - Continuation of the fugue, bringing the work to a close in five staves, about 7-8 minutes

That's an absolutely monumental cathedral of a piano work, and I've heard his Piano Sonata No. 5, _Opus Archimagicum_ is at least just as bad.

Alistair Hinton has a lot more information about the guy and his works in general, so if you're genuinely interested I suggest you go to the Sorabji Archive site.


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## ptr

I really hate breaking up a composition in to smaller chunks for listening, it really kills the composers intentions. 

This is one of the reasons I like a lot of Sorabji's works, those gigantic structures that seemingly lack direction but in their meditative state assuredly know were it is going!

/ptr


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## Orpheus

DeepR said:


> I'm not familiar with his music, but do remember listening to an Etude on youtube which sounded like a totally mad and warped version of Chopin Op. 10 No. 1 . I can't find it anymore, anyone know which one I mean?


Sounds like it could be one of his Transcendental etudes; there's a list here which might enable you to figure it out: http://www.sorabji-archive.co.uk/etudes/etudes-list.php


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## Guest

Forte said:


> That's an absolutely monumental cathedral of a piano work, and I've heard his Piano Sonata No. 5, _Opus Archimagicum_ is at least just as bad.


By "bad" I assume you mean long and demanding! Norwegian pianist Tellef Johnson was supposed to record _Opus Archimagicum_ several years ago, but he seems to have abandoned the project.


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## Forte

Kontrapunctus said:


> By "bad" I assume you mean long and demanding! Norwegian pianist Tellef Johnson was supposed to record _Opus Archimagicum_ several years ago, but he seems to have abandoned the project.


By "bad" I mean horrendously insane architecturally, yes 

I think his _Symphonic Variations_ are the worst, although I've never seen the full score. His organ symphonies are maybe his most complex works.

Now I challenge somebody to be that ambitious with a tonal composition!


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## Guest

I've always thought of Sorabji as highly chromatic rather than fully atonal--although there is a fine line there, I suppose.


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## Forte

The fugues from OC are quite atonal, rather than merely "highly chromatic" - to be fair they're some of the less accessible things he wrote.


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## ahinton

Orpheus said:


> Sounds like it could be one of his Transcendental etudes; there's a list here which might enable you to figure it out: http://www.sorabji-archive.co.uk/etudes/etudes-list.php


It's no. 10! - hence its nickname in certain quarters, namely "Op. 1 no. 10"...


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## Anselm

Slightly off topic, but you might want to sample his musical criticism. It's every bit as uncompromising as his music. Pretension, received opinions, mediocrity - all collapse under his devastatingly incisive hammer blows. No mucking about with satire or wit. That remorseless boot just slams into his victims' vital organs, time and again. A joy to read! (Hans Keller's criticism is similarly severe; not surprisingly, he championed Sorabji.)


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## ahinton

Anselm said:


> Slightly off topic, but you might want to sample his musical criticism. It's every bit as uncompromising as his music. Pretension, received opinions, mediocrity - all collapse under his devastatingly incisive hammer blows. No mucking about with satire or wit. That remorseless boot just slams into his victims' vital organs, time and again. A joy to read! (Hans Keller's criticism is similarly severe; not surprisingly, he championed Sorabji.)


He certainly had a way with words - so much so, in fact, that I believe that he could have forged a career out of literary writing and, after all, that had been his original intention; during WWI he was contemplating writing a book on Ravel, for example) until composition inevitably took over, so he had thought of writing more than just criticism. There's more to him that virtuosic trenchancy, however (as you will know having read his work); his championing of the music of Alkan, Liszt, Mahler, Busoni, Godowsky, Medtner, Szymanowski _et al_ is a particularly interesting case in point - all composers who were largely sidelined at the time of writing but whose reputations have since been so much in the ascendant that one might be tempted to credit his banging of the drum for them as having contributed to their restitution.


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