[Video] Sorabji: Fantaisie Espagnole (New Recording and Preview of New Edition)

[JCarey]

Timestamps:

I. Prélude et Introduction [0:00]

Sans Temp. Lent. [0:00]
Dans un rhythme indolent: Très modéré (Theme I) [1:39]
Avec une grâce nonchalante (Theme II) [2:58]
Theme I reprise [4:32]
Theme II reprise [6:30]

II. Mouvement de Habanera [8:48]

Modéré. Dans un rhythme élégant et bien balancé. [8:48]
Quasi rubato. [9:29]
Au temps [11:00]
Quasi Cadenza a piacere [12:46]

III. Modérément animé: alerte et gai [14:04]

Theme I  [14:04]
Bien en dehors le chant (Theme II) [15:46]
Avec bravoure [16:46]
Ad libitum [17:26]
Theme II reprise [18:00]
Theme I reprise [18:57]
Vite - Avec Bravoure. [19:21]

Introduction

It’s been eight years since I uploaded my live recording of Fantaisie Espagnole on YouTube (which I also shared here). While I was generally pleased with the performance, I was always rather disappointed with the quality of the recording — a sentiment that was shared by many, if not all, of the commenters on the video. With this recording I sought to not only resolve all of the audio-related issues found in my original recording, but also provide a significantly more personal and nuanced interpretation of the piece.

Additionally, I have also included several previews of a new edition I have been preparing, which will hopefully be released and available to purchase from the Sorabji Archive before the end of the year.

Any and all feedback is greatly appreciated!

About the Edition

It has always struck me as terribly unfortunate that a piece of this quality and general accessibility is virtually never performed. I’ve often made the claim that, were it not for Sorabji’s relative obscurity combined with his reputation for composing music of impenetrable difficulty, this piece could easily have found its way into the standard repertoire. Especially now, with the advent of platforms such as YouTube, Sorabji’s music has had a greater degree of exposure to wider audiences than ever before… and yet, it seems that despite this fact, it’s still always a surprising and noteworthy occasion whenever a new performance of Sorabji’s music happens to appear.

It occurred to me that a major contributing factor to this is related to certain features that are lacking in the majority of existing editions. Of course, I immensely appreciate the efforts of every person who has invested their time and energy into producing the (often massive) typeset editions of Sorabji’s scores, so this is by no means a criticism of their significant and scrupulous work. However, it remains a fact that the vast majority of typeset editions of Sorabji's works do not include many things that performers (particularly those who are not specialists in performing modern/obscure works) generally rely on when learning new pieces (fingering, performance suggestions, editorial notes, etc.), which places a significant burden on the part of the performer. Taking a glance at my score of this work, one would see hundreds of fingerings written in by hand in addition to numerous other notes regarding how to make certain sections more manageable and pianistic than the notation of original score would imply. I started to consider the fact that other performers could also benefit from my labors, and from there, it was only a matter of time before my vision for a new edition came into focus. Eventually I ran the idea by Alistair Hinton, and he showed considerable support and enthusiasm toward the idea. And thus, the task was set before me.

To those familiar with the original score (or Sorabji’s music in general), several aspects of this edition will stand out, since they noticeably deviate from the standard notational orthodoxy that is almost universally applied to Sorabji’s scores. In a sense, one might characterize my edition as an attempt to “de-Sorabji-ize” the score. While I’ve always loved the visual aesthetic of Sorabji’s notation style, the approach he takes is often not particularly clear in terms of how the music should be performed, a primary example being his penchant for using an upwards of three staves when writing solo piano music. Now, certainly there are many examples throughout his works where the complexity of the music would simply make any attempt to fit all the notes onto two staves (as in traditional piano notation) virtually illegible; however, in this particular work, the vast majority of the music can in fact be comfortably notated on two staves, often to the immense benefit of the general clarity of the score.

Also, in the case of this work (and much to my surprise), the music is often so strongly based in traditional tonality that key signatures can be used effectively, significantly reducing the number of accidentals in several sections, and also removing quite a bit of the ambiguity that is frequently generated by his typical approach (i.e., accidentals only apply to the notes they directly precede — unless its a repeated note, or occasionally a repeated sequence of notes, or Sorabji just forgot to write them in, or…).

Finally, Sorabji rarely makes any specifications in terms of how certain passages are meant to be distributed across the hands, and finding a way to play many sections comfortably often involves quite a bit of experimentation on the part of the performer. I have sought to notate the music in a much more pianistic way that leaves very little to the imagination.

Additionally, this new edition will include detailed editorial notes, ossia sections taken from the existing manuscripts that were excluded from the first edition, corrections of misprints found in the original publication, and various other features typically found in a critical edition. My ultimate hope is that all of these features will make the work much more approachable to potential performers and help further increase the exposure of both this piece and Sorabji’s music in general.

One final point of interest: while putting this video together, I discovered an interesting coincidence — the original edition was published in 1922, exactly one hundred years ago! It is indeed a distinct privilege to be the first editor after an entire century to produce an edition of this remarkable work.

Note: There are likely mistakes and oversights in the samples I’ve included, as this edition is still very much a work in progress. All of what is shown here is subject (and likely) to change.

[lelle]

I listened to all of it. Mad props to your playing skills, it's really well done, and pretty interesting piece, though for me it overstays its welcome a bit. It was nevertheless an enjoyable listen in many ways. Must be quite challenging to learn, no?

My impression is that Sorabji tends to write very long pieces, is that a fair assessment?

[ahinton]

My impression is that Sorabji tends to write very long pieces, is that a fair assessment?

Yes and no. His longest work, Symphonic Variations for piano, probably plays for at least 9½ hours (a typeset edition has been prepared and is currently undergoing thorough checks before release). His second and third organ symphonies as well as Sequentia Cyclica super Dies Iræ and 100 Transcendental Studies for piano are all in the order of 8½ hours. His seven piano symphonies vary from around 2¼ hours to an estimated 6 hours. HIs four multi-movement Toccatas for piano range from 1¼ hours to almost 3 hours. His six piano sonatas are of increasing duration and occupy from just over 20 minutes to around 6 hours. There are other Sorabji works of unprecedentedly great duration. That said, at least three quarters of his c.105 known works would fit comfortably into one half of a conventional length programme and his output includes Aphoristic Fragments that play for a few seconds each.

Of the truly large scale works (i.e. those of 2 hours or longer), those that have been performed and/or recorded to date are the first and second organ symphonies, Piano Sonata No. 4, Toccata Seconda (Toccata Terza is due for its world première in July this year), 100 Transcendental Studies, Piano Symphonies 4, 5 & 6 and Sequentia Cyclica super Dies Iræ.

And yes, its popular elements and relatively modest duration notwithstanding, Fantaisie Espagnole is no walk in the park to play!

Best,

Alistair

[JCarey]

I listened to all of it. Mad props to your playing skills, it's really well done, and pretty interesting piece, though for me it overstays its welcome a bit. It was nevertheless an enjoyable listen in many ways.

Thank you for taking the time to listen and comment, I'm glad you enjoyed it!

Must be quite challenging to learn, no?

It certainly has some rather difficult sections, but in my personal experience, I've often found Sorabji's music to generally be much more "playable" than the score might initially suggest. I think one of the most difficult aspects of many of his works is his use of complex polyrhythms, but beyond that, I'd argue that the level of "pure" technique his pieces require is generally no more demanding than what you're likely to find in Liszt or Rachmaninoff, these difficulties just tend to be employed with a much greater rate of frequency over the course of his harder works. Still, I tend to maintain that the most difficult aspects of performing Sorabji's music are musical/interpretive in nature.

My impression is that Sorabji tends to write very long pieces, is that a fair assessment?

While this is what he's often known for (and unsurprisingly, considering quite a few of his pieces exceed three hours in length), many of his compositions take only 10-30 minutes to perform.