Opus Clavicembalisticum

"Opus Clavicembalisticum" is a solo piano piece composed by Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji, completed on June 26, 1930. The piece is notable for its length and difficulty: at the time of its completion it was the longest piano piece in existence. Its duration is around four hours, depending on tempo. Several of Sorabji's later works, such as the "Symphonic Variations" (which occupy 484 pages of manuscript — probably about eight hours of music, similar in duration to Frederic Rzewski's work "The Road") are even longer.Fact|date=February 2007 At the date of concession, the piece was the most technically demanding solo piano work, although later works by New Complexity, Modernist and Avant-Garde composers, along with Sorabji himself, conceived vastly more difficult pieces; it is in this particular area that the Opus Clavicembalisticum primarily receives its notoriety, and to this day is still highly regarded in this facet. Sorabji was inspired to compose the work after hearing a performance of Busoni's "Fantasia Contrappuntistica", and "Opus Clavicembalisticum" seems to be a homage to Busoni's work.

Structure

"Opus Clavicembalisticum" has twelve movements, of hugely varying dimensions: from a brief cadenza, lasting only three minutes, to a mammoth interlude, containing a toccata, adagio, and passacaglia (with 81 variations), requiring around an hour to play. The work's movements are set in three parts, each larger than the last:

Composition and dedication

In a letter upon completion of the massive work, Sorabji wrote to a friend of his:

With a wracking head and literally my whole body shaking as with ague I write this and tell you I have just this afternoon early finished Clavicembalisticum... The closing 4 pages are so cataclysmic and catastrophic as anything I've ever done — the harmony bites like nitric acid — the counterpoint grinds like the mills of God...

The dedication on the title page reads:

To the everlasting glory of those few men blessed and sanctified in the curses and execrations of those many whose praise is eternal damnation.

Performances

There have only been a handful of performances of Opus Clavicembalisticum. The first was by Sorabji himself in 1930. "Pars Prima" was performed by John Tobin in 1936; this performance is noted to have taken approximately twice as long to perform as the score dictates. This performance, and its reception, led to Sorabji's ban on public performances of his works, claiming that, "no performance at all is vastly preferable to an obscene travesty". Sorabji maintained this ban until the late 1970s. The next public performance of Opus Clavicembalisticum took place in 1982, at the hands of the Australian pianist Geoffrey Douglas Madge. A recording of the performance was released on a set of four LPs, which are now out of print. Madge went on to perform it in its entirety on five other occasions, including once in 1983, a recording of which was released by [http://www.bis.se BIS] in 1999. This particular release is notable, due to highly consistent, technical flaws, including but not limited to relating to pitch, dynamics, tempo and rhythm. During several passages, entire measures of music are omitted or exchanged. [cite news|author=youtube.com|title=Opus Clavicembalisticum 2nd mvmnt(Part 2) Madge's Recording| url =http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PLVoayDCXBc|date =2008-01-30| accessdate =2008-07-30| language =English] John Ogdon performed the work twice, towards the end of his life, and produced a studio recording of the work. Jonathan Powell has performed it on five occasions, and will begin a studio recording of the work after two more public performances of the piece. The only other verifiable and complete performance of this work, in public, was given by Daan Vandewalle, although a number of pianists have performed excerpts, which are usually the first two movements. For example, J. J. Schmid performed part of the work at the Biennale Bern 03.

Citations

External links

* [http://www.foxall.com.au/users/mje/OpusClav.htm Errata list]
* [http://www.sorabji-archive.co.uk/compositions/piece.php?pieceid=50 The Sorabji Archive — information and list of performances.]
* [http://www.opusclavicembalisticum.blogspot.com Sample pages of the score]
* [http://www.sorabji-files.com Listen to entire Pars Prima of the score]