The funniest thing about today's leaf is the reputation of its author, Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji (1892-1988). A Parsi-British man of great eccentricity, Sorabji was best known as a critic in his life but gained a mysterious, legendary status as a composer of impossibly difficult and unbelievably lengthy piano works. As an example, his fifth piano sonata, Opus Archimagicum, lasts about 6 hours, and that's not even his longest piece for he instrument. He also wrote imposing orchestral, chamber and vocal works, but he is best known for his piano pieces, including the notoriously difficult Opus Clavicembalisticum (1930), lasting over 4 hours via a 290-page score and opening like this:
Contrary to popular belief Sorabji did write some short pieces, including the 20 Frammenti Aforistichi, many of which are shorter than anything Webern could muster. However, we're looking at one of his earliest works today, Désir Eperdu (1917).
(Click for larger view)
I've often heard the term "super impressionist" attached to Sorabji and this piece is a fine example of something more conservative than that. He had only started composing a few years prior so this piece isn't quite up to his later insular standards. I've also heard Sorabji called "un-analyzable", and I agree in that I don't think he kept himself to any strict theoretical standard, instead writing from his gut, ears, and eyes. I'm still not convinced that he actually sat down and played some of the pieces he wrote, but they look incredible, vast organic tapestries of dense counterpoint and dozens of themes fighting for breathing room. Désir Eperdu ("distraught desire") retains that tapestry feel by being printed landscape style and being defined by horizontal movement nocturne-ly. You could make an easy Chopin connection in the left hand writing, but the mood is too volatile for any genre label. It ends on an unresolved outcry, fitting for a desire as distraught as this. Here's a semi-par recording:
~PNK
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