when i first learnt about skryabin, the russian composer, i was told that effectively he was the end of the line, noone came after him to continue what he was doing...
a few weeks ago i went over to uncle filmo's with bo and one of the things he played us was le jardin de parfum by sorabji (spelt wrong i'm sure, from memory), solo piano music, very beautiful, sparse, although dense at times, i'd never heard of him...
he was born in england to an indian father and possibly sicilian mother in 1892, died in 1988 having published over 100 works (largely for piano),
in 1913 he attended skryabin's performances in london...
so now i'm downloading as much as i can from soulseek, (strange what turns up on soulseek) and listening to bits of it...
ethereal,
insanely complex,
oh filmo you lead me down some strange pathways...
oh and my life... oh yes...
the lesson on thursday was a triumph, subtle mix of carrot and stick (largely carrot), i came home and slept for 12 hours which was sorely needed, went to work yesterday for the final assessment of the search & reflect intensive... lovely, not real teaching, just checking out where the students have got to with it all, validating,
and today i'm going to go down south for producer G's birthday before coming back up here for a mini-party tonight...
x
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hoping to capture the odd angles through which i look at the world..
1 comment:
Dear Longo,
Have bought a load of Sorabji lately, all solo piano stuff. I read that he composed six SYMPHONIES for solo piano, all unrecorded (and probably unperformed). Some people think he's a genius, others view him as a charlatan. There's a Guardian review of a performance of Opus Clavembalisticum from a few years ago on the internet. The reviewer gave it one star and said Sorabji suffered from 'delusions of grandeur'.
PS.The version of OC I bought is played by John Ogdon.
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