Interview with Sorabji and Michael Habermann - Sorabji plays his own Nocturne "Gulistan" (3/3)

This is a rare recording of Sorabji beeing interviewed. At the end you can her himself playing "Gulistan" unfortunaly the recording quality isn't actually the best one. Maybe you will realize that there is a big difference between hearing his interpretation and seeing how he wrote "Gulistan"... I will upload an interview with Michael Habermann where he talks about this difference and what Sorabji says about his way of playing... Unfortunaly I'm not a nativ speaker so I have really big problems understanding Sorabji. It really would be wonderful if anybody could post Sorabji's answers as a text... Thank you so much

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Kaikhosru
• Shapurji
• Sorabji
• plays
• Nocturne
• Gulistan
• the
• rosegarden
• rose
• garden
• interview
• composer
• Michael
• Habermann

[Neongrapes]

Wow...finally perfect clarity and balance; everybody I've heard at one point or another muddles things and loses the different lines and clarity.....and this in turn loses a lot of people because it makes Sorabji's music sound "Random" which of course it's not. No wonder Mr. S was so protective....only he really had the digital subtlety and intonation that makes his diamonds shine. Having said that, Hopkins version is about as much to be expected from a Mortal.

[egyptian3rdeye]

Yeah, I have all of Habermann's recordings of S. You have any idea when Opus Archimagicum is to be released? That's Tellef Johnson on Altarus records, right? I've emailed him about it, but he won't say.

[eurisko618]

@egyptian3rdeye

Hopkin's Gulistan is the only recording I know of that he ever made, then he died. I actually prefer Michale Habermann's rendition of Le jardin parfume to Solomon's (who also has died). The upcoming release of Opus Archimagicum (over 6 hours long) has at least 2 of these "Nocturne-like" sections in it, each running about an hour. Eager to hear that!

[egyptian3rdeye]

Yes, I agree, Charles Hopkins's recording of Gulistan is the gold standard. Shame he didn't record other Sorabji pieces. Yonty Solomons's recording of Le jardin parfume is the gold standard of that piece, too.

[eurisko618]

@egyptian3rdeye

The way Sorabji plays this piece is really quite unique, and indeed, it does "sparkle & twinkle". It's interesting to note that he is only playing an abridged "approximation" of the score. Charles Hopkins gorgeous recording on Altarus runs about 35 min, while this recording by Sorabji is about 12 min. But it's fascinating to hear, esp as there are very few recordings of him playing, and hard to come by. Wonderful!

[egyptian3rdeye]

This performance sparkles and twinkles, doesn't it?

[4candles]

Fascinating! I love Sorabji's performance - it's a lot more nuanced than I was expecting, even though I knew he was an accomplished pianist.

It is quite difficult to understand his accent (he would have been easier to understand when he was younger!). My brother has an MP3 CD recording of the entire Sorabji interview and of him playing, but I have not been able to play it, because of the limited technology I own!

Thanks for posting this rarity!

[egyptian3rdeye]

why doesn't some record company, Altarus for instance, package this as a commercial recording? where did you get this?