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Sorabji Opus Clavicembalisticum, John Ogdon

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Torrent description

This will be 5 CDs + Scans including 96 page booklet.

CD 1 Pars Prima

CDs 2 -3 Pars Altera

CDs 4-5 Pars Tertia


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, and was the longest piano piece written at the time of its completion. Its duration is 4-5 hours depending on tempi. Several of Sorabji's later works, such as the Symphonic Variations (which occupy 484 pages of manuscript - probably about 8 hours of music, similar in duration to Frederic Rzewski's work The Road) are even longer. It is considered by many to be the most difficult piece of music ever written for the piano. Sorabji was inspired to compose the work after seeing a performance Busoni's Fantasia Contrappuntistica, and Opus Clavicembalisticum seems to be a homage to Busoni's work.

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:

Pars Prima

I. Introito
II. Preludio-Corale
III. Fuga I
IV. Fantasia
V. Fuga a due soggetti

Pars Altera

VI. Interludium Primum (Thema cum XLIX Variationibus)
VII. Cadenza I
VIII. Fuga Tertia Triplex

Pars Tertia

IX. Interludium Alterum (Toccata, Adagio, Passacaglia cum LXXXI Variationibus)
X. Cadenza II
XI. Fuga IV. Quadruplex.
XII. Coda-Stretta

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