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BIS

Sorabji: 100 Transcendental Studies, Nos. 84-100 / Ullen

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Details

Composer
SORABJI, KAIKHOSRU
Artist
Fredrik Ullen
Format
CD
Label
BIS
Released
Jan 01, 2021
Catalog #
BIS-2433
UPC
7318590024331

About

By far the largest collection of concert études in the known repertoire, Kaikhosru Sorabji’s set of 100 Transcendental Studies, composed between 1940 and 1944, has a total duration of more than eight hours. On five previous discs, the Swedish pianist (and neuroscientist) Fredrik Ullén has introduced the first 83 études to a wider audience, the large majority of them appearing on disc for the first time. Now, 15 years after the release of the first volume comes the final instalment, a 2-disc set with the last 17 studies. In his own liner notes, Ullén describes the experience of learning and recording the collection: ‘From the F sharp minor of Study 1 to the F sharp minor chord concluding Study 100: traversing Sorabji’s Transcendental Studies has been somewhat like joining a comet following a long eccentric orbit through pianistic outer space, and finally returning back to mother earth.’ Most of the studies are typical concert études in the sense that they essentially explore a single technical or structural idea. But especially towards the end of the cycle Sorabji includes pieces that are on a much larger scale, a tendency that culminates with the two final études. Quasi fantasia (No. 99) is a hugely expanded elaboration of J.S. Bach’s Chromatic Fantasia and is followed by the almost hour-long Coda-Finale, a quintuple fugue of staggering complexity. Besides the programme notes by Fredrik Ullén, the booklet includes texts by Kenneth Derus and Alistair Hinton who both knew the composer.

REVIEW:

Listen to the very first track, where a tango rhythm quickly devolves into a series of very tricky cross-rhythms, for an idea of the challenges facing Ullén. He has surmounted them admirably, and his deliberate approach to these pieces has paid off. He gets the attractiveness of the Studies as a way into the work of Sorabji, who has been admired by many and equally often critically dismissed. Sorabji is not for everyone, but he is for more listeners here than elsewhere.

– AllMusicGuide.com (James Manheim)

Tracklist 22 tracks

  1. Disc 1
  2. 1 No. 84. Tango habanera: Leggiero con grazia indolente 09:03
    Track
    1
    Title
    No. 84. Tango habanera: Leggiero con grazia indolente
    Duration
    09:03
    Composer
    Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji
    Performer
    Fredrik Ullén
  3. 2 No. 85. — 01:53
    Track
    2
    Title
    No. 85. —
    Duration
    01:53
    Composer
    Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji
    Performer
    Fredrik Ullén
  4. 3 No. 86. Adagietto: Legatissimo 01:59
    Track
    3
    Title
    No. 86. Adagietto: Legatissimo
    Duration
    01:59
    Composer
    Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji
    Performer
    Fredrik Ullén
  5. 4 No. 87. Studio gammatico 02:59
    Track
    4
    Title
    No. 87. Studio gammatico
    Duration
    02:59
    Composer
    Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji
    Performer
    Fredrik Ullén
  6. 5 No. 88. — 01:20
    Track
    5
    Title
    No. 88. —
    Duration
    01:20
    Composer
    Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji
    Performer
    Fredrik Ullén
  7. 6 No. 89. Chopsticks: Vivace 01:31
    Track
    6
    Title
    No. 89. Chopsticks: Vivace
    Duration
    01:31
    Composer
    Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji
    Performer
    Fredrik Ullén
  8. 7 No. 90. — 03:23
    Track
    7
    Title
    No. 90. —
    Duration
    03:23
    Composer
    Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji
    Performer
    Fredrik Ullén
  9. 8 No. 91. Volante leggiero 02:52
    Track
    8
    Title
    No. 91. Volante leggiero
    Duration
    02:52
    Composer
    Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji
    Performer
    Fredrik Ullén
  10. 9 No. 92. Legato possibile: Velato, misterioso 02:17
    Track
    9
    Title
    No. 92. Legato possibile: Velato, misterioso
    Duration
    02:17
    Composer
    Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji
    Performer
    Fredrik Ullén
  11. 10 No. 93. Leggiero, saltando 02:12
    Track
    10
    Title
    No. 93. Leggiero, saltando
    Duration
    02:12
    Composer
    Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji
    Performer
    Fredrik Ullén
  12. 11 No. 94. Ornaments: Con fantasia 04:10
    Track
    11
    Title
    No. 94. Ornaments: Con fantasia
    Duration
    04:10
    Composer
    Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji
    Performer
    Fredrik Ullén
  13. 12 No. 95. — 00:54
    Track
    12
    Title
    No. 95. —
    Duration
    00:54
    Composer
    Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji
    Performer
    Fredrik Ullén
  14. 13 No. 96. — 03:32
    Track
    13
    Title
    No. 96. —
    Duration
    03:32
    Composer
    Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji
    Performer
    Fredrik Ullén
  15. 14 No. 97. — 03:11
    Track
    14
    Title
    No. 97. —
    Duration
    03:11
    Composer
    Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji
    Performer
    Fredrik Ullén
  16. 15 No. 98. Staccato e vivace 02:56
    Track
    15
    Title
    No. 98. Staccato e vivace
    Duration
    02:56
    Composer
    Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji
    Performer
    Fredrik Ullén
  17. Disc 2
  18. 1 No. 99. Quasi fantasia: Scorrevole 16:07
    Track
    1
    Title
    No. 99. Quasi fantasia: Scorrevole
    Duration
    16:07
    Composer
    Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji
    Performer
    Fredrik Ullén
  19. 2 No. 100. Coda-Finale: Fuga a 5 soggetti: Parte prima a due voci: Soggetto primo 05:02
    Track
    2
    Title
    No. 100. Coda-Finale: Fuga a 5 soggetti: Parte prima a due voci: Soggetto primo
    Duration
    05:02
    Composer
    Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji
    Performer
    Fredrik Ullén
  20. 3 No. 100. Coda-Finale: Fuga a 5 soggetti: Secondo soggetto: à 3 voci 03:15
    Track
    3
    Title
    No. 100. Coda-Finale: Fuga a 5 soggetti: Secondo soggetto: à 3 voci
    Duration
    03:15
    Composer
    Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji
    Performer
    Fredrik Ullén
  21. 4 No. 100. Coda-Finale: Fuga a 5 soggetti: Terzo soggetto: à 4 voci 06:41
    Track
    4
    Title
    No. 100. Coda-Finale: Fuga a 5 soggetti: Terzo soggetto: à 4 voci
    Duration
    06:41
    Composer
    Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji
    Performer
    Fredrik Ullén
  22. 5 No. 100. Coda-Finale: Fuga a 5 soggetti: Quarto soggetto: à 5 voci 09:44
    Track
    5
    Title
    No. 100. Coda-Finale: Fuga a 5 soggetti: Quarto soggetto: à 5 voci
    Duration
    09:44
    Composer
    Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji
    Performer
    Fredrik Ullén
  23. 6 No. 100. Coda-Finale: Fuga a 5 soggetti: Quinto soggetto: à 6 voci 19:18
    Track
    6
    Title
    No. 100. Coda-Finale: Fuga a 5 soggetti: Quinto soggetto: à 6 voci
    Duration
    19:18
    Composer
    Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji
    Performer
    Fredrik Ullén
  24. 7 No. 100. Coda-Finale: Fuga a 5 soggetti: Stretto maestrale - Libero quasi cadenza con punta d'organo - Pieno: largo e maestoso, quasi Organo pieno 11:53
    Track
    7
    Title
    No. 100. Coda-Finale: Fuga a 5 soggetti: Stretto maestrale - Libero quasi cadenza con punta d'organo - Pieno: largo e maestoso, quasi Organo pieno
    Duration
    11:53
    Composer
    Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji
    Performer
    Fredrik Ullén