Jonathan Powell/Sorabji/Oxford

[ahinton]

Ah yes, ff.
But perhaps others as well!
Anyway, many thanks for drawing attention. I've had a good read - necessarily so.
The things one finds out!
All fascinating stuff.
Oxford is it?

Yes. So far, the schedule for performance of this work is
27 October, De Toonzaal, s'Hertogenbosch, Netherlands (world première)
2 November, Jacqueline du Pré Music Building, Oxford, UK
19 November, PONCHO Concert Hall, Cornish College of Arts, Seattle, WA, USA
24 November, Spectrum, New York City, NY, USA.

This may not ultimately be a complete list of soon forthcoming performances but it's the latest information that I have.

[edashtav]

After delaying a trip to my mother's 91st birthday, opting out of a post-AGM luncheon on Saturday, I'm free, at last, to attend Jonathan Powell's Sorabji Concert . I'm very much looking forward to the event having not heard any Sorabji live since Yonty Solomon played his 2nd Sonata at the QEH, back in 1978 (I think). That was half a lifetime ago!

Do you know what piano will be used on Saturday, Mr Hinton?

[Serial_Apologist]

After delaying a trip to my mother's 91st birthday, opting out of a post-AGM luncheon on Saturday, I'm free, at last, to attend Jonathan Powell's Sorabji Concert . I'm very much looking forward to the event having not heard any Sorabji live since Yonty Solomon played his 2nd Sonata at the QEH, back in 1978 (I think). That was half a lifetime ago!

Do you know what piano will be used on Saturday, Mr Hinton?

A very strong one, one would hope!

[edashtav]

A very strong one, one would hope!

Are you lowering the tone, S_A?

I was hoping to hear a mellow Bösendorfer.

[Serial_Apologist]

Are you lowering the tone, S_A?

I was hoping to hear a mellow Bösendorfer.

I just felt it was a key issue!

[edashtav]

I just felt it was a key issue!

I'm expecting the symphony to be a key-free area, yet unapologetically non-serial, too.

[ahinton]

After delaying a trip to my mother's 91st birthday, opting out of a post-AGM luncheon on Saturday, I'm free, at last, to attend Jonathan Powell's Sorabji Concert . I'm very much looking forward to the event having not heard any Sorabji live since Yonty Solomon played his 2nd Sonata at the QEH, back in 1978 (I think). That was half a lifetime ago!

That's great news! Yonty Solomon never played Sorabji's Second Sonata or indeed any Sorabji at QEH, actually; he did broadcast his First Sonata and Third Sonata on BBC R3 in the 1980s, however.

Do you know what piano will be used on Saturday, Mr Hinton?

As far as I know, the instrument there is a Steinway D.

[edashtav]

That's great news! Yonty Solomon never played Sorabji's Second Sonata or indeed any Sorabji at QEH, actually; he did broadcast his First Sonata and Third Sonata on BBC R3 in the 1980s, however.


As far as I know, the instrument there is a Steinway D.

Oh dear - my memory! Well [... a spot of Googling...], it must have been the 3rd Sonata and in the Wigmore Hall, to boot! I know that I was present, in London, and sat in the stalls, perhaps too close, about three rows from the front and to the left of centre, giving me a good view of the keyboard.

I have another memory (possibly false, too!) that Sorabji preferred the gentler, dreamier tones of Bosendorfer pianos to Steinway's harder glitter.
So much depends, though, on the Hall's ambience. Although I live not far from Oxford, I've never been to the Jacqueline du Pre Music Room so it'll be interesting to hear what quality of sound arrives in its gallery.

[ahinton]

Oh dear - my memory! Well [... a spot of Googling...], it must have been the 3rd Sonata and in the Wigmore Hall, to boot! I know that I was present, in London, and sat in the stalls, perhaps too close, about three rows from the front and to the left of centre, giving me a good view of the keyboard.

And if that view enabled you to have the misfortune to have the page turner within eyeshot, you'd have clapped eyes on yours truly! This performance, in June 1977, was the work's première, for which it had waited some 55 years since its completion.

I have another memory (possibly false, too!) that Sorabji preferred the gentler, dreamier tones of Bosendorfer pianos to Steinway's harder glitter.

His view wasn't that specific; he had a fine 1896 Steinway C from 1931 onwards and expressed positive comments about certain of the older Steinways but a notable preference from his later years was indeed the Bösendorfer 290, examples of which have been pressed into service for a good many recordings of his piano works by John Ogdon, Donna Amato, Marc-André Hamelin and, most frequently, Jonathan Powell himself.

So much depends, though, on the Hall's ambience. Although I live not far from Oxford, I've never been to the Jacqueline du Pre Music Room so it'll be interesting to hear what quality of sound arrives in its gallery.

Enjoy! See you there! There's a talk at 2.30 followed by the performance commencing at 3.00.

[edashtav]

And if that view enabled you to have the misfortune to have the page turner within eyeshot, you'd have clapped eyes on yours truly! This performance, in June 1977, was the work's première, for which it had waited some 55 years since its completion.


His view wasn't that specific; he had a fine 1896 Steinway C from 1931 onwards and expressed positive comments about certain of the older Steinways but a notable preference from his later years was indeed the Bösendorfer 290, examples of which have been pressed into service for a good many recordings of his piano works by John Ogdon, Donna Amato, Marc-André Hamelin and, most frequently, Jonathan Powell himself.


Enjoy! See you there! There's a talk at 2.30 followed by the performance commencing at 3.00.

Thanks for all that information. Your mention of a broadcast sent me scuttling to my records- there it is recorded in 1987 on two cassettes - and on the second one I subsequently recorded the 1st [Proms] performance of Tavener's "The Protecting Veil" in 1989. I must find these tapes amongst my vast archive for it's clearly the 3rd Sonata and I've appended a composition date - 1922 which accords with your assertion that the work waited 55 years for its first performance.

I'm afraid that Mr Hinton, page-turner, left no visual memory but I do have a vague idea that I marvelled at the time at his unassuming efficiency.

[Serial_Apologist]

I marvelled at the time at his unassuming efficiency.

A friend once turned the pages for Andrew Ball at a concert I attended. I suggested afterwards that it must have been taxing. "Oh yes", he said, "I could hardly keep up: the Finnissy scores were like birdshit!"

[edashtav]

Oh Dear.

Hell is a man who has found tapes of Sorabji's 3rd Piano Sonata but finds his sole cassette deck has died - some of its innards having turned to viscous black gunge!

On the bright side - hours of preparation will be saved!

Live is best, after all!

[Sir Velo]

that's the CD I've got...the Ogden Above it.

[Sydney Grew]

O dear! It comes with an O dears.

[ahinton]

O dear! It comes with an O dears.

Unaccustomed as I am to quoting from Stravinsky, it occurs to me that an adaptation of his barbed and wholly unnecessary put-down of a certain German composer whose Arabella he said made him want to scream might be contextually appropriate here, namely "if Richard, then Wagner: if Strauss, then Johann", for if "Ogden", then Nash: if "Ogdon", then John; once described as the "brightest" British pianist talent of any generation, John Ogdon was undoubtedly "celebrated" though never "flaky" and it is a very sad fact indeed that he has now been "gone" for almost a quarter century.

A swift return to the topic, however, is called for!