Symphonic Variations

[ahinton]

A new typeset edition of what must be one of the largest - if not the largest - sets of variations ever composed for piano has just been published for the first time. Comprising a theme and 81 variations, it is cast in three volumes, with the theme and first 27 variations in Vol. 1, variations 28-54 in Vol. 2 and the remainder in Vol. 3. Completed in 1938 and as yet unperformed (other than just one of its variations), its estimated total duration is somewhat in excess of 10½ hours; it would therefore need to be performed as three separate concerts with one volume in each.

It will come as no surprise to some that the composer is Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji. For further details, see www.sorabji-archive.co.uk and/or write to sorabji.archive@gmail.com .

[thalbergmad]

He must have got through a lot of ink.
Thal

[ahinton]

He must have got through a lot of ink.
Thal

The composer most certainly did, though not so the editor as the edition was obviously all prepared on the computer!

I still have Sorabji's last ink bottle (empty, of course!) - Pelikan Fount India, to be precise - along with two of his Mont Blanc pens...

[lelle]

I don't want to start a flame war, but I'm genuinely curious, so I hope this question (and eventual anwers) comes across respectfully. But what is the point of writing such a large work? Like who is this for, what is it's purpose for existing? I cannot imagine anyone voluntarily wants to sit through 10 hours of music when it's of such complexity and abrasiveness as Sorabji's music can sometimes be. Making something the largest thing ever for it's own sake seems pointless to me.

[ahinton]

I don't want to start a flame war, but I'm genuinely curious, so I hope this question (and eventual anwers) comes across respectfully. But what is the point of writing such a large work? Like who is this for, what is it's purpose for existing? I cannot imagine anyone voluntarily wants to sit through 10 hours of music when it's of such complexity and abrasiveness as Sorabji's music can sometimes be. Making something the largest thing ever for it's own sake seems pointless to me.

I do not interpret your post as starting a flame war and accept your genuine curiosity, so will answer in good faith as follows.

There is undoubtedly some complexity of expression in this work but little abrasiveness; indeed, there are some passages that are the very reverse of abrasive.

I doubt that Sorabji had a clear idea as to how long it would actually occupy in performance! - but the work was certainly not written in order to see how long a piece he could write...

Jonathan Powell's 7-CD recording of Sorabji's not much shorter Sequentia Cyclica super Dies Iræ, another large set of piano variations (almost 8½ hours) from a little more than a decade later, not only won a Deutsche Schallplatten prize but has attracted many comments about its approachability; both sets of variations arguably contain a good deal of more easily absorbed music than, say Opus Clavicembalisticum.

For whom the work is written and what its intended purpose may be is a question that could as easily be asked of many works, without necessarily throwing doubt on whether they are for anyone at all or on their reson for existence. Of course, the longer and more complex the work, the more the listener is dependent upon the skills and communicative gifts of the performer but, having sat through the premières of Sorabji's Sequentia Cyclica super Dies Iræ and Organ Symphony No. 2 (whose three movements are about as long as Sequentia Cyclica), I can say with confidence that audience concentration remained intense throughout both - palpably so, indeed.

Sorabji's acute consciousness and awareness of durations and structures led mim to say to me once that he'd listened to quite a few 3 minute pieces that (for him) outstayed their welcome but that the longer the piece or individual movement of it the more it behoves the composer to maintain not only interest but also impart a sense of direction and narrative to the listener - and I have no doubt that this desire impacted meaningfully upon the way that he wrote his vast edifices in music.

As I had suggested, Symphonic Variations would need to be performed as three separate concerts, one for each of its volumes; Jonathan Powell likewise divides Sequentia Cyclica into three sections in performance. Neither work would be expected to be performed - or listened to - in a single stretch from first notes to last.

That said, it should be remembered that, of Sorabji's 100+ works, at least two-thirds are of durations that enable them to fit into a conventional length recital programme, as many of them have indeed done over the years.

Many thanks for asking! Sorry for the length(!) of the answer!

[lelle]

Thanks for the answer! It's interesting to read your perspective for sure. There is something about Sorabji that is sort of interesting to me, but I still don't have it in me to sit through his works as a whole :/

[ahinton]

Thanks for the answer! It's interesting to read your perspective for sure. There is something about Sorabji that is sort of interesting to me, but I still don't have it in me to sit through his works as a whole :/

That's interesting although, as I mentioned, well over 60 of those works are of durations that would enable their inclusion in conventional length concert programmes, so do give at least some of them a try! - for example, Piano Sonata No. 1, the nocturnes Le Jardin Parfumé and Djâmî, the two pieces based on stories of the supernatural by Montague Rhodes James, namely Quaere Reliqua Hujus Materiei Inter Secretiora and St. Bertrand de Comminges, some of his 100 Transcendental Studies, Passeggiata Veneziana and so forth, all of which, for the record, are shorter than Chopin's B minor sonata!

[robertus]

My approach to this work (as a non-genius!) would be to practice each variation (one at a time), then record it straightaway- and then maybe do the next one the next day. Or possibly do them consecutively- fitting it into a sleepless and delirious week.

I imagine Marc-Andre Hamelin is the only person who would have the abilities to learn and perform the whole set- he evidently has a super-human brain! 

[ahinton]

My approach to this work (as a non-genius!) would be to practice each variation (one at a time), then record it straightaway- and then maybe do the next one the next day. Or possibly do them consecutively- fitting it into a sleepless and delirious week.

I imagine Marc-Andre Hamelin is the only person who would have the abilities to learn and perform the whole set- he evidently has a super-human brain!

Well, there are others but I have ensured that he has a copy so it will be up to him!