German Record Critic's Award - Quarterly Choice 2/2020.
Featuring
Jonathan Powell
Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji
Did you know?
1/7
Compositional Technique
The score of Sequentia cyclica is often densely written, with music on as many as six staves, but Sorabji intentionally left many interpretive decisions to the performer's 'intelligence'.
Composer Biography
Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji, the composer, was the son of a Parsi civil engineer from Mumbai and an English soprano, and completed over 100 pieces between 1915 and 1984.
Composer's Artistic Vision
Sorabji strongly discouraged public performances of his music after a disastrous one in 1936, stating that 'no performance at all' was preferable to 'an obscene travesty'.
Composition History
Sorabji's Sequentia cyclica is a set of 27 variations on the 'Dies Irae' plainchant from the Latin Requiem Mass, a theme also used by composers like Rachmaninov and Godowsky.
Recording & Production
This recording of Sorabji's Sequentia cyclica is its first recording, performed by pianist Jonathan Powell.
Performer Biography
Jonathan Powell, the pianist on this album, is a self-taught composer whose works have been performed by groups like the London Sinfonietta and the Arditti Quartet.
Compositional Technique
Three of the variations in Sorabji's Sequentia cyclica are each over an hour in length, making it a work of immense scale.
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