- Composer: Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji
- Audio CD (26 May 2004)
- Number of Discs: 3
- Format: Box set
- Label: Altarus
- ASIN: B00029LNDC
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 109,253 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
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How do you describe the music of Sorabji to someone unfamiliar with his extraordinary world? It is 'classical music' in the sense that to play it requires the huge training and dedication demanded of the concert pianist. And in that sense it is classical music at the pinnacle of ambition and accomplishment. But really, it is something else of its own kind, sui generis. Hyper-modern without being modernistic, yet with fabulously ancient roots. To hear Sorabji is like discovering the derivation of Einstein's field equations to be embedded in illuminated manuscripts from twelfth century Persia, or as though looking very closely at a Jackson Pollock was to reveal each splotch to be a Chopin étude. His music somehow embraces all of civilisation down to its origins, while at the same time taking us into the farthest depths of the starry realms. In his fourth sonata, which despite hearing a dozen times I have yet to scratch the surface of, one is keenly aware of the tendency, there before but now becoming the form itself, that for most of the time, we are listening to two hands. This in a way unlike any other piano writing I know of. Much of the meaning of the music is to be found in the tension between what at times sounds like two players on two instruments, drifting in and out of phase and harmonic synchrony with each other. What each hand is playing would stand up on its own as standard Romantic repertoire, but it is in the variation of their mutual reinforcement and antagonism of each other that much of the musical content lies. The result is neo-classical music of forbidding complexity, expressive of profound organisation teetering on the brink of collapse into chaos. It is mathematical music, indeed higher mathematical music, and as with Bach at his most sublime, its glory is in the pulse quickening pleasure of intellect operating at its peak of effectiveness. I have probably said enough now to clarify who and who will not have a taste for this variety of strange and exotic sublimity.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
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Of the small number of pianists who specialise in the music of Sorabji, perhaps none is quite as convincing as Jonathan Powell. He has a rare capability of putting the listener at ease, even in material that calls for hyper-virtuosic technical abilities. Here, he proves that Sorabji's fourth sonata is a work commensurate in importance and accomplishment with the better-known (and later-written) Opus Clavicembalisticum.
Like O. C., this is a protracted work in which Baroque counterpoint is set in massive, architectural blocks against movements of impressionistic intensity. These are effectively Sorabji's two main styles (one derived from Bach via Busoni, the other from Debussy and Scriabin) and they are united by Sorabji's personal qualities as a composer: a love of highly layered thematic material thickly interwoven with musical decoration. Gothic in the extreme, this is music that deeply idiosyncratic but, in Powell's hands, utterly persuasive.
Overall, there are things in O.C. which make it the better choice for someone approaching Sorabji's major works for the first time. Everything that is here is also in O.C., and at twice the length O.C. also finds room for other pleasures such as the mighty Passacaglia. Nevertheless, this sonata takes us to an extreme of pianistic composition that was only ever to be equalled by Sorabji himself.
Like O. C., this is a protracted work in which Baroque counterpoint is set in massive, architectural blocks against movements of impressionistic intensity. These are effectively Sorabji's two main styles (one derived from Bach via Busoni, the other from Debussy and Scriabin) and they are united by Sorabji's personal qualities as a composer: a love of highly layered thematic material thickly interwoven with musical decoration. Gothic in the extreme, this is music that deeply idiosyncratic but, in Powell's hands, utterly persuasive.
Overall, there are things in O.C. which make it the better choice for someone approaching Sorabji's major works for the first time. Everything that is here is also in O.C., and at twice the length O.C. also finds room for other pleasures such as the mighty Passacaglia. Nevertheless, this sonata takes us to an extreme of pianistic composition that was only ever to be equalled by Sorabji himself.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
3 reviews
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Now THIS is Sorabji!
20 Mar 2006
An incredible work from start to finish, Jonathan Powell performs it with utmost care and attention to detail. He brings out every note in a way that makes this sound like MUSIC, and not a blurred "wave" of sound (a la Madge/Ogdon). This is how Sorabji is MEANT to be performed and listened to.
The first movement: Incredible playing throughout... one can hardly comprehend the nearly unbelievable complexity that Sorabji writes for the pianists meager 10 fingers. There are 7 themes here, which are all played AT ONCE at the end of the movement. How any pianist is capable of doing this is beyond me, but Powell seems to handle it with easy. You will hardly believe your ears!
The second movement: This movement contains some of Sorabji's most beautiful moments; a sumptuous representation of "Count Tasca's Garden." The sound seems to wash over the listener who is often in awe that the music can be so complex yet so quiet and delicately played. It often sounds that one would need 4 hands to play spin such complicated textures. This is, by far, my favorite movement.
The third movement: This is the longest movement, containing a cadenza, 2 fugues, and a stretta where, like at the end of the 1st movement, all the themes are played simultaneously. I would have preferred it if Powell had played the fugues faster, but that's just personal taste. Overall, Powell plays this movement amazingly.
I can hardly wait to hear Powell's recording of Opus Clavicembalisticum, a work that truly needs a decent performance.
The first movement: Incredible playing throughout... one can hardly comprehend the nearly unbelievable complexity that Sorabji writes for the pianists meager 10 fingers. There are 7 themes here, which are all played AT ONCE at the end of the movement. How any pianist is capable of doing this is beyond me, but Powell seems to handle it with easy. You will hardly believe your ears!
The second movement: This movement contains some of Sorabji's most beautiful moments; a sumptuous representation of "Count Tasca's Garden." The sound seems to wash over the listener who is often in awe that the music can be so complex yet so quiet and delicately played. It often sounds that one would need 4 hands to play spin such complicated textures. This is, by far, my favorite movement.
The third movement: This is the longest movement, containing a cadenza, 2 fugues, and a stretta where, like at the end of the 1st movement, all the themes are played simultaneously. I would have preferred it if Powell had played the fugues faster, but that's just personal taste. Overall, Powell plays this movement amazingly.
I can hardly wait to hear Powell's recording of Opus Clavicembalisticum, a work that truly needs a decent performance.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
The Church of Sorabji . . .
1 April 2008
Amazon Verified Purchase
Jonathan Powell proves himself, once again, to be the perfect guide into Sorabji's dense, complex writing style. Where other pianist seem to lose their way amidst the notes, producing a harsh discordant sound that deafens the ear, Mr. Powell effortlessly creates Sorabji's most angelic utterances to date. To my ear, this is nowhere proven more the case than in the 35 minute nocturne on disc two - "Count Tasca's Garden."
This is truly a once in a lifetime recording, and a joy to have in my library. Don't delay in acquiring this epic performance. As with most Sorabji recordings, it will soon be unattainable.
This is truly a once in a lifetime recording, and a joy to have in my library. Don't delay in acquiring this epic performance. As with most Sorabji recordings, it will soon be unattainable.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Listenable Sorabji
4 Mar 2010
Amazon Verified Purchase
In my opinion , this is one of Sorabji's more listener - friendly pieces , especially the langorous Villa Tasca movement . Another great Altarus release of this fascinating and puzzling composer's long and complex piano works.
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