Gradus ad Sorabji

Mead talks about the music of composer Kaikhosru Sorabji. Sorabji's music is better known by reputation than by actual heard experience, and this is no surprise given its scope and technical difficulty. At four-plus hours, his best-known work, the Opus Clavicembalisticum, is relatively brief in...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Perspectives of new music 2016-07, Vol.54 (2), p.181-218
Main Author: Mead, Andrew
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Classical music
Composers
Composition
Compositional styles
Music
Musical composition
Musical criticism
Orchestras
Sorabji, Kaikhosru Shapurji
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Summary:Mead talks about the music of composer Kaikhosru Sorabji. Sorabji's music is better known by reputation than by actual heard experience, and this is no surprise given its scope and technical difficulty. At four-plus hours, his best-known work, the Opus Clavicembalisticum, is relatively brief in comparison to several of his other compositions. The sixth and last of his Symphonies for Piano, the Symphonia claviensis, is nearly five hours in Jonathan Powell's performance; the fifth Sonata, Opus Archimagicum, looks to take longer still, while the second Organ Symphony runs for about nine hours in organist Kevin Bowyer's performances so far. What he has found useful to track in Sorabji's music is an awareness of motivic and gestural transformation, degrees of memorability, and the flow of figuration and texture.
ISSN:0031-6016
2325-7180
2325-7180
DOI:10.1353/pnm.2016.0004