Sorabji's SYMPHONIC NOCTURNE out on CD!

[gep]

World premiere recording of Sorabji’s SYMPHPONIC NOCTURNE



For those with a keen interest in unusual (or at least seldom heard) piano music, a most wonderful new CD is on the horizon. Belgian pianist Lukas Huisman (https://www.lukashuisman.be/bio_e.html), in part for his master thesis, transcribed Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji’s late masterpiece Symphonic Nocturne, written in 1977/78 (when the composer was well into his eighties), and subsequently played its world premiere performance in Ghent, Belgium in December 2015, repeating the performance in ‘s Hertogenbosch, The Netherlands in March 2016. Now a studio recording is becoming available: on Amazon https://www.amazon.de/Symphonic-Nocturne-Huisman-Lukas/dp/B01K8VR8RS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1474046672&sr=8-1&keywords=sorabji+huisman and on JPC https://www.jpc.de/jpcng/classic/detail/-/art/symphonic-nocturne/hnum/4250044.
For those less familiar with the works of Sorabji beyond that he wrote very complex and very long pieces, this work might come as a surprise. For those who ‘know’ the composer only from a work as Opus Clavecimbalisticum, it might also be much of a surprise. For while it is very much a work by this composer, it is also much different from (much) of ‘Opus’. Lukas Huisman himself compares the work with “a musical evening walk during which the composer invites us to wander around (…) between musical ideas, reminiscences, and associations. And not all nightly thoughts are peaceful or quiet ones…”. One might also call it a musical ‘stream of consciousness’, sounding quite improvisatory (which it very much is not!), during which one gets all kinds of (more or less fleeting, more or less elaborate, more or less peaceful) impressions. Immersing and floating along while paying all the attention this music deserves, one is in for quite a journey…

Lukas Huisman, who spent several years deciphering, editing and then rehearsing the piece (which, at well over two hours of uninterrupted music, is the longest single unbroken stretch of music Sorabji wrote), seems to have found his way to the very core of the music, conveying it with the utmost delicacy right up to the most ferocious upheavals this music contains. Having had the pleasure and privilege to attend the Dutch performance, I can say that the work as played on the CD is a bit more ‘in rilievo’, meaning that Huisman has made both the dynamical range a bit wider, but also gives more emphasised distinction between the more still and slow sections and the faster moving ones, resulting in a performance that is some 10 minutes longer than the live one. A most fascinating piece of music, most extraordinarily played. The only thing I do regret (but it is a small regret, from someone who always wants things perfect…) is that the instrument used is a Yamaha; a good piano, but this music deserves, indeed needs, an exceptional one, like a Bösendorfer Concert grand. But one cannot have ice cream and cookies every day, so I am quite satisfied as it is. The CD set is a most remarkable and laudable one, and must surely be one of the most exceptional first solo-CDs any pianist has ever made. Hopefully it will “only” the very first in many more equally delectable ones to come!

For those interested, my personal impressions from the Dutch performance are on both Huisman’s own site and the Sorabji Archive site (for the former: https://www.lukashuisman.be/img/20160227e.pdf). A separate review from the same concert ca be found there too, in Dutch (https://www.lukashuisman.be/img/20160227f.pdf; an English translation can be found here https://www.jpc.de/jpcng/classic/detail/-/art/symphonic-nocturne/hnum/4250044.

Oh, and the 2CD set will be out on Piano Classics , roughly around 14 October, and the price is very friendly indeed!

all best,
gep

[thalbergmad]

For a 2 CD set, it is very well priced and worth a gamble.

Might take me a few sessions. I lack your stamina.

Thal

[gep]

 I trust you'll not only survive, but would also not be surprised if you were to be pleasantly surprised! To which I do add that hearing music like this live is something different than listening to it on CD.

Hope to hear your impressions on the music, if you do take the plunge!

All best,
gep

[ahinton]

For a 2 CD set, it is very well priced and worth a gamble.

Might take me a few sessions. I lack your stamina.

It is indeed! Go for it, Thal!

Best,

Alistair

[minor9th]

Any idea when it will be available in the US? Amazon US lists neither it nor anything by Lukas Huisman.  Hmmm...Piano Classics' site doesn't mention them, either!

[gep]

Any idea when it will be available in the US? Amazon US lists neither it nor anything by Lukas Huisman.  Hmmm...Piano Classics' site doesn't mention them, either!

That not 'anything else' bij Lukas Huisman is listed, is no surprise, for this CD-set will be his CD debut! probably one of the most original CD debuts out there!
I do not know when the CD will be available in the US, but the date of release will be around halfway through October, so perhaps it should be available in the US some three weeks from now, I hope! Curious that the German site of Amazon does list it, but no other Amazon site...

I can tell you the CDs do sound great!

All best,
gep

[minor9th]

That not 'anything else' bij Lukas Huisman is listed, is no surprise, for this CD-set will be his CD debut! probably one of the most original CD debuts out there!
I do not know when the CD will be available in the US, but the date of release will be around halfway through October, so perhaps it should be available in the US some three weeks from now, I hope! Curious that the German site of Amazon does list it, but no other Amazon site...

I can tell you the CDs do sound great!

All best,
gep

Thanks. In the meantime, I contacted him and he said it would be released in the US in October, but he would verify with the label. Even though he is new to them, I'd think PC's website would at least mention his debut! Perhaps they don't update very often.

[lontano]

Glad to hear this notice. As a weary Sorabji fan I still collect and try to study everything that comes out.
I am very interested in his Piano Sonata #5. I expect it will be done fully in my lifetime.

[ahinton]

I am very interested in his Piano Sonata #5. I expect it will be done fully in my lifetime.

I'd love to think so, although I don't know by whom. At least there has for several years been a fine typeset edition of the score, without which it would be utterly impossible!

Best,

Alistair

[thalbergmad]

At least there has for several years been a fine typeset edition of the score, without which it would be utterly impossible!

Oh great, can you please tell me how to obtain the score.

Don't think it has been mentioned on here before

Thal

[ahinton]

Oh great, can you please tell me how to obtain the score.

If you're unsure, you could always go online, type in the composer's name and find out that way.

Good luck!

Best,

Alistair

[thalbergmad]

It comes up Scorser.com.

Thanks for your assistance.

Thal

[ahinton]

It comes up Scorser.com.

Does it indeed? If so, either that dodgy site must be showing you something different to what appears here or you're experiencing some kind of difficulty in reading what you've ostensibly been looking at. Neither the copy ms. nor the typeset edition of that score is available via that source which almost everyone who deals in such things knows to be an illegal Russian site in any case.

There is one item marked as "Piano Sonata No. 1 - 5" which I looked at but, far from containing all these five sonatas, it merely offers 7 pages from the middle of the publication of the first of them, which isn't of much use to anyone. There is no other reference to Sorabji's Piano Sonata No. 5 there.

Please make sure of your facts before risking misleading readers here.

That site does indeed advertise a number of Sorabji score items - all illegally - but it appears to have few if any of the many typeset editions that are available legitimately from us in paper or .pdf format by emailing sorabji-archive@lineone.net and of which full details, including sample pages, are available at www.sorabji-archive.co.uk , the bona fide source for almost everything Sorabji.

It's a good thing that hardly anyone who wishes to obtain Sorabji scores goes the illegal route and not the other one; we'd soon know here were that not the case.

Thanks for your assistance.

Such thanks are unnecessary, since I hadn't provided any assistance to you. I have now, however, although I had no idea that you needed it.

Best,

Alistair

[ahinton]

Just out of interest (if one could reasonably call it such), I have spent a few minutes trawling through the Sorabji "offerings" on the illegal Russian Scorser site.

From this exercise, the following is clear.

1. Very little of Sorabji's music is being offered there and many items shown there are repeats; for example, Marc-André Hamelin's handwritten editions of the first 18 of the 100 Transcendental Studies for piano crop up time and time again and most are offered as separate items.

2. Quite a few items have pages missing, in some cases a good number of pages.

3. The resolutions vary from poor to execrable; none is satisfactory to work with and some border on the illegible. This is especially disadvantageous to those scores which are copies of mss. which were not even legible enough to work with in the first place (hence the need for editions).

4. At an educated guess, it seems that little that's become available for the first time during the past 15 years or more is available there.

All in all, then, it is obvious that precious little care has been taken to offer usable products of acceptable quality and I can only conclude that whoever runs the site now has long since lost interest in offering any more of Sorabji's scores, which is fine by me!

Neither for the first time nor for the last, you gets what you doesn't pay for! From us, on the other hand, no less than 134 .pdf items are available at a price of just £5 each.

Even if these offerings from the Russian site were legal - which none of them are - the best and indeed only sensible advice would be - AVOID!

Best,

Alistair

[gep]

The 2CD set is now on display on the website of Piano Classics:
https://www.piano-classics.com/product/sorabji-symphonic-nocturne-lukas-huisman

I was a bit shocked by the price; the €15 on JPC was already low, but through Piano Classics you can get it for £8, which is just under €9 or just under $10. Mind you, this is a fully filled TWO-CD set! No-one with even the slightest interest in piano-music should miss this one!

All best,
gep

[thalbergmad]

£8 is probably closer to its worth and if Hinty is right about the falling Pound, perhaps now is a good time to buy.

I am expecting the equivalent of 2 hours of whalesong, so anything better than that will be a pleasant surprise.

Thal

[thalbergmad]

https://www.piano-classics.com/product/thalberg-opera-fantasies-mark-viner 

Perhaps a better purchase.

Thal

[ahinton]

if Hinty is right about the falling Pound

It doesn't matter who expresses what opinion about the state of that currency in relation to any others - it's the facts that matter; I cited them on the "Brexit" thread as they were at one point yesterday from a reliable specialist live online source and, although matters improved slightly for the pound earlier today, it's now back to €1.1074 and US$1.2203.

perhaps now is a good time to buy

Any time's a good time to buy this, although the sooner the better is the best time to do so!

I am expecting the equivalent of 2 hours of whalesong

You really do harbour some strange anticipations at times, Thal; reproducing whale sounds on any kind of piano is hardly what pianos have been designed to do or what they're capable of doing. God may have created great whales but Sorabji created a great Symphonic Nocturne for piano!

Best,

Alistair

[ahinton]

https://www.piano-classics.com/product/thalberg-opera-fantasies-mark-viner  

Perhaps a better purchase

No. A different one.

Best,

Alistair

[ahinton]

It comes up Scorser.com.

No response re notes on the woeful shortcomings and inadequacies of the illegal and largely outdated offerings of scorser, then?...

Best,

Alistair

[thalbergmad]

It is hardly the only online source for Sorabji.

Thal

[ahinton]

It is hardly the only online source for Sorabji.

Of course it isn't; there's also https://www.mus.ulaval.ca/roberge/srs/ , with which we are most happy to be closely associated and which you would do well to visit. However, for comprehensive information about what's available in what format at what price and from where, www.sorabji-archive.co.uk is the only resource.

Best,

Alistair

[minor9th]

My copy of the Nocturne is on its way from Amazon.De--they ship to the US. Total charge for the 2-disc set and shipping was just $19.11. A 2-hour nocturne--only Sorabji think of that!

[minor9th]

It arrived today--very nice playing and excellent sound. Overall, while it sounds plenty hard in places, it's less demanding than "O.C." from a purely technical aspect. (Not to mention being half the length!)

[ahinton]

It arrived today--very nice playing and excellent sound. Overall, while it sounds plenty hard in places, it's less demanding than "O.C." from a purely technical aspect. (Not to mention being half the length!)

Oh, it's well less demanding that OC, for sure - although the demands that it does make of the player (not least the mental and physical stamina required to perform a single more or less unbroken movement that plays for well in excess of two hours) are both considerable and very different to those made by OC (which is perhaps unsurprising given that it postdates OC by almost half a century); as what is undoubtedly a remarkable achievement for a composer in his mid-80s, it demonstrates beyond doubt that age is no bar to the ongoing development of a rich musical imagination!...

Quite a few more recordings of Sorabji's piano music are now in the offing and, if all goes according to plan, his discography, which already exceeds 40 items, is set to expand considerably.

Best,

Alistair