Opus Clavcembalisticum: Madge's Recording

[KV4671]

Geoffrey Madge laat hier horen dat Sorbji's muziek werkelijk muziek is die bovendien in de traditie staat van de grote pianoliteratuur. Ik hoor de Kathedraal van Debussy Ik hoor Nancarrow Ik hoor (avant la Lettre) Legeti Complimenten aan de toewijding van deze pianist die zich zo in dienst stelt van schijnbaar ontoegankelijke muziek. Zo iemand is waarlijk een dienaar van de kunst, en we mogen blij zijn dat hijnaast uitvoerend kunstenaar als pleitbezorger leraar en pedagoog zijn verantwoordelijk

[Laudan08]

WELL DONE MAGDE. I can finally hear something beautiful between this shitload of notes.

[Sesquiltera]

I wish there videos of sorabjis organworks with the score displayed.

[drshah0]

so bad

[RediForKing]

It doesn't matter how you play it it's always bad.

[MATTDUNCAN1]

@RediForKing why?? because you don't like it ?? that is hardly an intelligent criticism

[nolli546tpes]

how can you tell if the recording was bad or good?

[Mudbone00]

@salefrais nope... i didnt really look that hard

[driemaaldrommels]

I know this is very heavy music but Madge's makes it so FAT and heavy that it is impossible to hear what happens in this piece....I prefer the recording of John Ogdon, it's more transparent. but still....great that he plays it....I wish someone today would play it....Hamelin maybe??? :-)

[Enantiodromialist]

A staggering work by a staggering composer - it has taken me, a trained musician, years to even begin to grasp what he was doing.

Basically, take the major trends in early 20th-century music - Scriabinesque ultra-late romanticism, impressionism, neo-classicism (i.e. actually neo-baroque); write unified single movements on the scale of a Bruckner/Mahler symphony or Wagner opera act (for solo piano!); and put these together into multi-movement works lasting at least 2, usually 4-5 hours or more!

[Enantiodromialist]

@Enantiodromialist It's profoundly inspired, original, and unified music, and immensely difficult to comprehend.

That said, the Madge recording is an actual offense. It is *universally* considered by everyone familiar with Sorabji - except friends of Madge - to be such an utter travesty as to be literally fraudulent.

I can say from personal experience that you haven't heard this work until you've heard the Ogdon recording.

[dragons454]

this is... unbelievable. O_O

who the heck would write such? or maybe he just want to draw something on his music sheet?? omgggggggggg.....

[xxxxx123456789xxxxx1]

This piece is ... questionable.

[rigitony]

lol, i bet the pianists who try this usually ask. "Are you sure this is right? This cant be right. Must be a bad typo"

[RenegadeSquirrels]

Hmm. Odd chords. Gotta say, not my kind of music, but amazingly composed nonetheless. 3 octave chord at the end FTW

[AttemptingToBeBusy]

He makes a lot of mistakes

[lerber3]

this is stupid its just random notes

[Mudbone00]

Im no expert but you not understanding this composition doesnt make it good or bad and if you think it makes no sense you dont know enough about composition cause like i said im no expert and im not confused.... if you dont like it dont listen to it... and salefrais wheres your recording?

[TitinioBayagbag]

this fucking composition doesn't make sense......

[reijokin]

i love this one! the music and the performance!

[Pageboy72]

1:30 Are you kidding me?

[JClayCast]

I think Sorabji just wanted to make something ridiculously hard and 4 hours long. There is no real melody here (save the first line) and it's just random notes thrown onto a page with terrible chords. This is why I stick to Romantic music. If you want something really hard and sounds really good, go For Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2

[606p606]

shit, shit shit, shit!!!

[Angel94angel94]

can't stop humming at it...

[LittleArgerich]

but where is the music? it's so stupid!!!!

[ProkofievRules]

I don't get it.

[Arfat]

One thing we can learn from this though, music tastes reflect the personality of the listener...

[xxxxx123456789xxxxx1]

holy, 1:04 to 1:52, imagine the pain in his left arm after playing that part

[y1g1tcn]

this is a music because it carries a feeling:scare

[EinSofVirtuoso]

Amidst a then chaotic world, this music is a wonderful piece along with the works of Xenakis, Messiaen, and Rzewski in their pursuit of portraying reality as Reality: To simplify is for the theorists who never see farther than what Plato or Socrates has ever said.

[thphaca]

This type of music has actually had quite an influence on incedental music, for it's pure expression of emotion, but it lacks any harmonic structure which seperates it from mainstream music. Honestly, this music isn't THAT complicated. Listen to what's going on. Tension increases and releases, chromatic progressions occur, ect.. Your ears know what's going on. It's up to you to decide exactly what the passages symbolize.

[BrackenClelk]

If you like this, try Scriabin's Vers La Flamme, a (in my opinion) much more musical piece.

[japanesesweet]

On the strength of this Madge's recording is very good-a brittle touch which stops the piece from sprawling too much.

While i like parts of OC the problem is a slight rhythmical squareness.

[220392123]

who composed this? Sorabji?

[skg1991]

People do not understand the 20th century's musical movements. It was supposed to happen, and I am glad that it did. Those who talk about this music obstructing creativity are daft, since creativity is singular and NOT to the masses. It's much how we judge how good a band is by how many sales or concert tickets they sell.. all that tells us is how much they make, not how "good" or "creative" something. This is music, and there's no doubt about it. "Like it or leave it."

[godsloved3]

GROSS

[vadpet]

Im sorry but this isnot a piece, just a technical etude.I cant find the music in it...

[egyptianghetto56]

first of all, how can you judge a piece when more than half the notes aren't even right? did you read the video description? Madge slaughtered this piece.

And second, i'm not surprised , most people can't understand this kind of atonal music. you can't compare it to tonal music. this has it's own category. listen and try to understand it, and you will see a light between those obscure chords.

[hailkayy]

I wish people had never created that kind of music, we would have stayed into classicism, baroc, and romantism. Even if it has a hidden sense, at first sight it sounds disaster, and thats bad for creativity, i guess those composers were kind of mad.

[egyptianghetto56]

this music was going to be created, classicism and romanticism are dead. you can't understand this kind of music, and you only like what you can understand, so i suggest you look deeper into modern music.

[godsloved3]

they're not dead. People very much still hold to the ideals of Classicism and Romanticism.

[TheMazurka]

Of course. Also a crapload of people do not like this type of music. The only reason I'm on this page is because my and a friend are laughing at it. Look at the movies. You don't see these things getting played in popular culture. You see things like Adagio for Strings, Claire de Lune, and other music that are highly Classical and Romantic, in a lot of commercials you could also hear Baroque like Spring by Vivaldi. Nobody likes this. Thats why the music evolved so fast away from this.

[allegrissimo]

vadpet: For what are you apologising exactly? The word(s) "isnot" implicate that you own the truth. Might it be so that - in this particular case- you and only you (and not the world as in universal truth) think this is not a piece? And why is a technical etude not a piece? Is there no music in technical etudes then? Or are you not able to find music in any piece / etude / other? Your comment sucks in every way. Next time, please think before you write again!

[Arfat]

there is good music and there is bad music.

better yet, there is beautiful music, and there is (not so beautiful music)

Learn the difference...

[allegrissimo]

Should music have to be beautiful in order to be good in the first place? Not understanding or imagining music doesn't mean music is bad, it means it is not understood and therefore not liked. Learn the difference.

[Arfat]

Arguing with me on this is like having a preference for a brick wall instead of a waterfall from a glacier in the alps. There's something wrong with you

[Satanarchrist86]

Very somber, I like

[bunnyoneedge]

someone said this was the world's most technical piano piece. so, is it ?

well i think if you mix Rachmaninoff and Ravel and Liszt, it 'll own this piece.

[pianist7137]

Rachmaninoff, Ravel and Liszt are nothing compared to this. Try playing through this and you'll know what I mean.

[Randomnessk]

Whether or not they compare to this really means nothing. Rachmaninoff, Ravel, and Liszt cannot be compared to Sorabji because Sorabji didn't make music like the other three. Compare apples to an orange and there isn't anything similar except the rough outline.

[bunnyoneedge]

who's the composer ?

[pianist7137]

It's by Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji

[Angel94angel94]

This should be funny to play. Hell's notes!

[comrademarxist]

Certainly Madge's recording has its flaws. But I think he did a fine job of capturing the overall mood of the piece, which, to me, is far superior to strict, unfailing technical accuracy.

[xxh3llfir3xx]

what a horrible piece.. it does not sound the least bit like music...

[allegrissimo]

xxh3llfir3xx: that says a lot about your (limited) concept of music. There are things in this life you can actually work on! Either it can be your level of commenting on music, or...developping your insights in music. I'd suggest you work on the latter...

[xxh3llfir3xx]

allegrissimo:

i am entitled to my own opinion and you have no say in what insight I should have towards these kinds of music.

"i suggest" you stop telling people what to do. they have their own opinions. this sounds like shit to me, but what does it matter to you? if I told you that cats screeching wasn't a pleasant sound, you would probably tell me off. so, being the guru that you are, you should probably play OC because it suits you. shitty and disgusting.

[allegrissimo]

xxh3llfir3xx : of course you are entitled to your own opinion. I only suggest you comment on things you actually know something about. Apparently you know a lot about shit, so do what you're good at.

[IloveAlexisBledel689]

Somebody has the sheets for this piece? Or any idea where I can get them?

[xiphoid13]

I have the sheets. But I can't send the whole file at one time so just tell me which movement.

[musicnerdalways]

it's almost impossible since this piece was never published

[anthonylim9]

imagine a concert with this piece

[regiear1991]

I live dissonant music as much as consonant music, but this piece is weird. But then again, weird is great.

[loveebara]

I'm glad you think it sounds good, cause then it probably does right

[Sorabjian]

"Good" is subjective.

[loveebara]

why waste time playing a piece that sounds horrible?

[DerekGuenther]

Why waste time commenting on a piece that "sounds horrible?"

For the record, I like it.

[LackingLack0]

this is really cool i am so glad stuff like this exists in the universe

[pagaopodrera]

meu pau pra isso ae...coisa de gente escrota

[jasonmartinez90]

im not sure if this is harder to play or listen to..

[OverFjell]

@jasonmartinez90 Harder to spell, haha

[japanesesweet]

i liked this much more than i imagined i would-more clarity and sense of purpose than i remembered-Madge`s steely playing is a real benefit.

He made a wonderful recording of Wolpe`s Dance in the form of a Chaconne.

Finnissy`s 3rd concerto i think he made up alot of the notes but he gets close to Finnissy`s intentions in other ways.

[Reaper978]

This was very interesting with the sheet music, thanks for posting.

As far as my ability to tell, the technique required for Sorabji's most demanding pieces is extended to the extreme. Madge has the musicality but he struggles through much of what I am hearing, and this sadly is painfully the damaging to a genuine effort to play it. The piece is simply too difficult without having mastered the challenges of all previous keyboard technique.

[GL3NE]

Give Madge a break. He is a good pianist. Dynamics are sparse throughout Opus Clavicembalisticum and contribute to no real melody. Honestly, I would BARELY be able to tell the difference between the accuracy in recordings of this piece, and I interpret it differently every time it's heard. This is because its almost disorganized in nature and so God damn long.

[Reaper978]

Madge is no doubt a fine pianist. Interestingly, I have heard Madge's performance of the Passacaglia near the end of OC and I have to say that his performance is quite incredible there. It seems like he slips a lot more in the beginning than near the end.

[khlymore]

yep here we are again

[jiolsmolimassunemo]

first of all what madge recording is this? the first or second? and secondly... john ogdon... is where performance of this piece is at. hearing this short excerpt only confirms my opinion.

[mdeonx12]

my favorite part is as 2:38, it sounds like a carrilon :)

[viensdestonie]

huh, my favourite part is 3.05, when this finished. :)

[loracwehtam]

i dont know much about music, but Madge plays this buitifully. I love the almost inaproprate chord progressions via left hand along with the incredibly complex speed of the right hand

[aldebussy]

HOLY SHIT!

[4444matthew4444]

thank you so much