The majority of Kaikhosru Sorabji’s songs date from just after the beginning of World War I, when the composer was in his early 20s. Their harmonic idiom largely reflects early-20th-century Romanticism as practiced by Cyril Scott on one end and Busoni on the other. By contrast, three songs from 1941 reveal Sorabji’s thick, polychordal sound-world at its most elaborate, but within the compass of three-minute songs, as opposed to the composer’s more notorious four-hour solo piano epics. They are quite rangy for the soprano voice, laced with cruelly exposed high notes and long lyrical lines that suddenly run up against unrelenting intervallic leaps. Nor does Sorabji spare the pianist.
Listeners familiar with the composer’s rhapsodic, densely textured early piano works will find the same exotic, overwrought virtuosity here. The majority of the songs are set to French texts, with a few in English. Elisabeth Farnum’s attractive, agile soprano voice excellently suits this repertoire, and she masters the composer’s colossal challenges with relaxed authority. And Margaret Kampmeir’s suave, elegant dispatch of the thankless accompaniments deserves its own review. Full texts are included along with Alistair Hinton’s informative annotations. Every aspect of these world-premiere recordings (including Joe Patrych’s superb engineering) bespeaks tremendous dedication and labors of love. An important release. [5/17/2003]
