Sorabji Fans Rejoice!

[minor9th]

Donna Amato has recorded Sorabji's Symphony No.5 for Solo Piano. It's available here:

https://www.recordsinternational.com/cd.php?cd=04M065

I attended her performance of it in NY the same week as Jonathan Powell's "Opus Clavicembalisticum"--that was some orgy of Sorabji!

[thalbergmad]

Nice picture of Corfe Castle on the cover. Most appropriate.

I might buy this.

Thal

[retrouvailles]

That price is pretty steep. It's why I've avoided buying it thus far. I might just wait for someone else I know to buy it and get it from them.

[minor9th]

Yeah, but it's two discs, and they seem to be the only source at the moment.

[thalbergmad]

Seems pretty good value for a 2 disker.

Thal

[djealnla]

I'm surprised Alistair hasn't yet commented on this recording; perhaps it hasn't yet finished playing in his house.

My copy still hasn't arrived.

[minor9th]

I'm surprised Alistair hasn't yet commented on this recording; perhaps it hasn't yet finished playing in his house.

My copy still hasn't arrived.

When did you order it?

[djealnla]

When did you order it?

Almost a day ago by now, so let's see how much time it will take.

[ahinton]

I'm surprised Alistair hasn't yet commented on this recording; perhaps it hasn't yet finished playing in his house.

My copy still hasn't arrived.

No - it's becasue I do not have a copy yet; I don't think that even Altarus's UK distributors have it yet, actually.

I, too, attended the première in NYC back in 2004 along with Jonathan Powell's OC performance three days later. Events like that don't exactly come around every week...

Best,

Alistair

[minor9th]

Almost a day ago by now, so let's see how much time it will take.

If it's actually in stock, Records International usually processes and ships orders right away. They rarely have items in their monthly catalog that are not in stock, so here's hoping for a speedy shipment for both of us!

[gep]

I immediately ordered a copy from The Archive when notified about its exsistence; no doubt its arrival will note a splendid addition to my Sorabji collection! Who would have thought not so long ago that something like having a Sorabji collection could or would be possible!

all best,
gep

[john11inc]

That price is pretty steep. It's why I've avoided buying it thus far.

You've obviously never bought a release from Disques Montaigne.

[retrouvailles]

You've obviously never bought a release from Disques Montaigne.

I have, actually, but I've never seen them for near $40 on Amazon, even for double disks. I usually see double disks for near $30. I'll buy this disk eventually, but I'll wait for it to appear on Amazon Marketplace. Just to think that I could get 5 Naxos disks for the price of one of these sets is a sobering thought.

[gep]

I have, actually, but I've never seen them for near $40 on Amazon, even for double disks. I usually see double disks for near $30. I'll buy this disk eventually, but I'll wait for it to appear on Amazon Marketplace. Just to think that I could get 5 Naxos disks for the price of one of these sets is a sobering thought.

I do not know the situation in other countries, of course, but the standard full price of a single CD in The Netherlands is €26, or $37. And the things were invented here, for crying out loud...

[ahinton]

I do not know the situation in other countries, of course, but the standard full price of a single CD in The Netherlands is €26, or $37. And the things were invented here, for crying out loud...

That's very much more expensive than in UK, where I believe that the very top price for a CD is around £16.50, which is around €19.

Best,

Alistair

[gep]

That's very much more expensive than in UK, where I believe that the very top price for a CD is around £16.50, which is around €19.

Best,

Alistair

Which is why I rarely buy here (barring Naxos or Brilliant). jpc schallplatten is a nice site, as I have discovered...

[minor9th]

My copy arrived today--awesome! Donna does a heroic job with what must be crushingly difficult music. The sound is up to Altarus' usual high standards. Why do they persist in not providing track timings or recording data? (when, where, by whom, much less the equipment used) Oh well, it's still very enjoyable.

[djealnla]

My copy arrived today--awesome! Donna does a heroic job with what must be crushingly difficult music. The sound is up to Altarus' usual high standards. Why do they persist in not providing track timings or recording data? (when, where, by whom, much less the equipment used) Oh well, it's still very enjoyable.

I'm still waiting.

Incidentally, what about the recording perspective? Is it close or distant? Also, how long is the recording?

[minor9th]

Medium close, but the (anonymous) room is not overly reverberant. It's a little closer than most of Powell's I'd say, but the mics are not under the lid. Disc one=66:35, disc two=57.51.

[ahinton]

Disc one=66:35, disc two=57.51.

That's tightened up abit since the première, then (and, as you've doubtless guessed, I'm still waiting for mine, too).

Best,

Alistair

[minor9th]

Slightly off topic, but I was watching a biography about Glenn Gould (The Genius Within...very good!), and I got to wondering if Gould were familiar with Sorabji. I would think the dense counterpoint would have been very appealing to him, if we weren't put off by the length of some of the pieces!

[djealnla]

I have my copy at last.







But I found the piece somewhat underwhelming. The 4th symphony is better.

[ahinton]

I have my copy at last.

But I found the piece somewhat underwhelming. The 4th symphony is better.

Pity. The Fourth Symphony (whose world première by Reinier van Houdt you have presumably heard and which I personally attended, as did Donna Amato who had at the time just given the world première of Sorabji's Piano Concerto No. 5) is indeed a wonderful piece - and more than twice the size of its immediate clavisymphonic successor. The Fifth is different in many ways, rather than "better" or "worse" as far as I am concerned and, although I still await my copy of the recording of it, I did attend Ms Amato's première of this as well, so I know of what I speak not only from the perspective of having studied the scores of each but having heard each of them performed live for the first time ever.

Best,

Alistair

[djealnla]

Pity. The Fourth Symphony (whose world première by Reinier van Houdt you have presumably heard and which I personally attended, as did Donna Amato who had at the time just given the world première of Sorabji's Piano Concerto No. 5) is indeed a wonderful piece - and more than twice the size of its immediate clavisymphonic successor. The Fifth is different in many ways, rather than "better" or "worse" as far as I am concerned and, although I still await my copy of the recording of it, I did attend Ms Amato's première as well, so I know of what I speak not only from the perspective of having studied the scores of each but having heard each of them performed live for the first time ever.

Best,

Alistair

Perhaps repeated listens will change my view. I'll give the piece another chance tomorrow, right now I'm too busy.

[gep]

I (finally) have been able to have a first "go" at the 5th, so my impressions are extremely preliminary, but what I hear I like very much indeed! It is a quite compact compendium of most "techniques" Sorabji used in his music (the only thing rather remarkably absent is a set of variations).Sorabji wrote the 5th after some several years of abstinence from composing, and this work shows just how much he was wrong in thinking he was "written empty".
What struck me perhaps as most impressive is how the work seems to have ended after the Fugue, after which the real last movement starts on a "pulsating drone", out of which a sort of chorale emerges en later on more and more. Not unlike how, after a dark night, the first glimmers of light let you, slowly and inperceptably, perceive more and more of your surroundings. I think this last part is, to me at least, the most hauntingly beautiful part of the whole work, so just as well Sorabji saves it for the last. (NB according to the liner notes, the first page or so of this last part is an all but verbatim copy of the opening of the last movement of Piano Symphony "No. 0". So I am most curious to that work too! Not that I wasn't beforehand, but now even more!).
Dnna Amato's playing sound quite wonderful, and the recording is nice too, so in all I would most highly recommend it to anyone interested (or curious about) Sorabji.
To that I would like to add that buying this or other CDs from the Sorabji Archive is helping said Archive - without whose tireless and ongoing work neither this nor any other recordings and/or concerts would have come about - to some extra income, necessary to maintain it. So if you like the music of Sorabji, think of the Archive too!

But I found the piece somewhat underwhelming. The 4th symphony is better.

I think Sorabji's later works just need a bit more time to settle in, that's all. I cannot say either the 4th of 5th is better, they are very different works (for ex, no. 4 contains a 100 minute Theme and Variations, while the 5th has no such movement). I like and love both, and am most curious about the other five...'

all best,
gep