Extremely Long Piano Compositions - What's Their Point?

[Karl Henning]

I think you have it backwards. Sorabji's huge mistake was to believe that his music should be presented as a concert. When his efforts to have his music performed failed he retreated to his reclusive world, believing only rare people who could sit through an 8 1/2 hour work were his audience.

Symphonic works are wordless drama. Even "absolute" music like classical symphonies are concise dramatic pieces, with themes that appear, come into conflict, and resolve. Sorabji's works strike as as musical novels, in contrast to the musical stage plays that work in a concert hall. No one criticizes Tolstoy or Dickens because their works can't be absorbed in a sitting, like an Ibsen play. If he could have foreseen the prevalence of recorded music Sorabji would have found his audience.

Excellent.

[Bachtoven]

For the record, Sorabji wrote a number of shorter pieces, too. This LP contains a few:

Track List:
A1 Introito And Preludio-Corale From Opus Clavicembalisticum   13:09
A2 In The Hothouse   6:01
A3 Toccata   3:31
B1 Fantaisie Espagnole   15:09
B2 Fragment   2:44
B3 Pastiche: Habanera From Bizet's Carmen   4:37

[Karl Henning]

Thanks! Interestingly, this was recorded in nearby Nashua, New Hampshire. (We have a Nashua Street here in Woburn.)

[Karl Henning]

[Bachtoven]

Here are some brief interviews with him. Even though he's speaking English, the CC subtitles help since he speaks very fast!

[Bachtoven]

And a discussion of his music:

[Karl Henning]

The composer playing:

[Karl Henning]

The composer playing:

This is exquisite.

[Maestro267]

For the record, OPs can close the threads they create. So If you really want it to die you can strike the fatal blow.

[Karl Henning]

[springrite]

Morton Feldman String Quartet #2 (FLUX Quartet)

(Yes, the whole thing. I did not stop the music as I went to sleep at 1 am. It is still going as I wake up now at 3am. I will probably get to the end before I go back to sleep.)

[Maestro267]

Yes that famous *piano* work the String Quartet #2