OC number 4
This is the 4th commercial recording of Sorabji's Opus Clavicembalisticum (OC) and those who can tolerate repeat hearings of this cacophony will be occupied for some time.
The earlier recordings include 2 by Geoffrey Douglas Madge: the 1st was consigned to vinyl oblivion where it deserves to remain and the 2nd ( on BIS ) is almost as deserving. The other recording is by John Ogdon who was at first specifically prohibited by Sorabji himself from making a recording. Eventually Sorabji relented though he really had no choice: he gave permission to Madge and once the recording was out, that was the end of his so-called ban. At the time, most reviews pointed to the circa 1hr difference in the Madge/Ogdon performances. Mostly in the fugues. Madge was faster but he skimmed over a lot of passages. Those who have heard Madge groping his way through Godowsky etudes will not by surprised to be told that there was a lot of cheating and playing around passages. The Ogdon performance, yes an hour longer, was very disappointing. There was no contrast at all in the movements and Ogdon was of course past his peak and even quite ill at the time. Had his health been better things might have been different, but that's far from certain. Ogdon also had to make compromises especially in the fugues.
The new recording by Daan Vandewalle clocks in at over 5hours making it the longest of the 4. So what do you get for your extra minutes? The answer is not much in the way of music for sure. The performance is accurate but careful. The sound is clear and even unusual but the performance still does not excite. This is not just the "music" itself. There needs to be drive and risk taking. There is more scope for variance and contrast. The climaxes just don't happen. It's midi playing.
The production is good and the CDs are well packaged. The booklet could be better. The author claims OC was inspired by Egon Petri's recording of Busoni's Fantasia Contrappuntistica but this is plain wrong. Petri recorded it decades later. But this inaccuracy is typical in the Sorabji lore. The usual false comparisons with Busoni's work are made. Chords over a bass are common in piano music so that does not make an analogous passage. A repeated note in the bass under chords is also common and does not therefore justify comparison with the Liszt sonata. In 5hrs of relentless note spinning the listener's mind is bound to amuse itself by seeking references.
As for the work, the question begs why bother? This is not "clear thoughts calmly expressed." Lack of calmness is no problem for me but there are no "clear thoughts" in evidence. Indeed there are no thoughts at all. Just tons of notes thrown on a page in a vain effort to look skilled. Notice "look:" not sound. In interview Sorabji said he had a cupboard full of scores. He said "Any good? I don't know... don't care." How could he not know? A composer, as he was pleased to call himself, must have either belief or self critical ability. Clearly both of these were as lacking as his talent.
Yet a 5th recording is rumoured. Jonathon Powell wants to record this and is awaiting a producer. I'm not volunteering.
