I don't think there has been a recording of OC that does it full justice yet; both the Madge and Ogdon accounts are seriously flawed. Most of Sorabji's music that I have heard has considerable merits, although I can't say that I *know* much of it. I have Powell's recording of the huge 4th Sonata and it seems far more impressive than the OC. However, I would say that a lot of Sorabji's music falls into just a few categories (exotic night music; complex fugues; devilish toccatas etc...) and one piece can seem much like another (IMHO).
I also question the length of some of his pieces and can only assume he didn't mean his music to be listened to by Joe Public but by afficianados with brains the size of small planets who are able to truly understand the music. I know he wanted to hog an entire evening's performance, but with what end in mind? To prevent comparison with other composers, or to channel the concentration of the audience into his mindset maybe? I can think of one or two other composers who write music of considerable duration - Alastair, would you care to comment on that last thought?
I'll be pleased to comment on most of what you write here, if that's OK with you.
The small number of categories that you cite make no mention of variation sets, transcriptions, symphonic first movements, character pieces (like Fantaisie Espagnole, Fantasia Ispanica, etc.), aphoristic fragments (of which there are three sets) and studies - and that's only the piano music; what about the piano quintets and other chamber music, the organ works, the songs? Sorabji spread his ideas over a far wider canvas than you imply here.
I'm not sure that he really had much idea of who might listen to his work, really, but your idea that he wanted to hog an entire programme, even if it were true at all, would not cover most of his work; of his 60-odd piano works, for example, three-quarters would fit into a conventional length recital programme and most of those are short enough to be shared with other composers. Jonathan Powell (wait until HE records OC!) has, for example, given programmes pairing, for example Busoni's Fantasia Contrappuntistica with Sorabji's Toccata I, Granados's Goyescas with Sorabji's Fantasia Ispanica, Alkan's solo concerto with Sorabji's. The songs are also easily programmable with other composers' songs, as they alway have been. Other composers' durations are, at best, like Sorabji's in that the object of the exercise is to try to get the duration right for the content, whether the piece is four seconds, four minutes or four hours. Of course there is always a potential danger that a piece can be over-written, duration-wise, but I think that few composers would make a habit of very long durations unless there was a musical necessity for it. In this context, perceived time is more important than real time in any case - as in Jonathan Powell's performance of OC in New York where I found myself astonished that he was already playing Fugue III and a whole 2 hours had elapsed that felt nothing like so long.
Best,
Alistair
Topic: Why such negativity about Sorabji?