Sorabji's 2nd Organ Symphony - World Premiere Broadcasts

[Sequentia]

Hello all,

it has recently come to my attention that the Dutch independent Internet radio broadcaster "De Concertzender" (http://www.concertzender.nl/) has plans to broadcast (in two parts) Sorabji's over 8 hours long Second Organ Symphony (1929-1932). This is a work that has been performed complete only two times in history (in the summer of 2010) and never been broadcast nor released commercially.

The performance of this piece is that of Kevin Bowyer, who spent some 20 years working on it on and off. Given the difficulties involved in preparing a performance of a work as complex and long as this one, Mr Bowyer has requested that the broadcasts be mixed; hence the 1st movement (about 80 minutes) will come from a partial performance given in York, the 2nd movement (some 270 minutes) will be taken from the world premiere of the work in Glasgow, and the 3rd movement (roughly 180 minutes) will also be taken from the Glasgow performance, but its third section will be replaced with a partial performance that took place in Berlin.

While each of the broadcasts will be repeated once (as well as available for later listening), the key dates are 11 May and 25 May. Each of them will start at midnight (in the Netherlands), and the first will include movements 1 and 2, while the second will include the 3rd movement. In addition to that, both broadcasts will include Mr Bowyer's recordings of various works by Alkan, and the second will also include his 1988 recording of Sorabji's 1st Organ Symphony.

For the full details about the background and realisation of this event see http://sorabji-archive.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=469.0.

I hope this piques the interest of at least some of you!

[eschiss1]

It does me. Thanks! I take it this will not be archived for indefinite listening as most of Concertzender's programs are- unfortunate though understandable...

[Sequentia]

It does me. Thanks! I take it this will not be archived for indefinite listening as most of Concertzender's programs are- unfortunate though understandable...

Actually it will be, but from what I'm told, the "indefinite listening" option will have lower sound quality (I don't know how inferior, though).

[eschiss1]

Well, I tried http://www.concertzender.nl/programmagids.php?date=2012-05-10&month=0&detail=56166 and the mp3 link from it, having forgotten to listen on the day-of (argh), and it goes to an interesting program of, apparently, mostly late-Romantic and modern orchestral and chamber works- but not organ music- from the sound of it, that is; the page itself describes Sorabji and Alkan. It's hardly the only time that the description on the Concertzender page and the sound of the linked mp3 have been wholly at odds. It happens. Licensing reasons in this case, if I had to make a guess. Hopefully the 2nd organ symphony will be released on recording before too long!

[ahinton]

Well, I tried http://www.concertzender.nl/programmagids.php?date=2012-05-10&month=0&detail=56166 and the mp3 link from it, having forgotten to listen on the day-of (argh), and it goes to an interesting program of, apparently, mostly late-Romantic and modern orchestral and chamber works- but not organ music- from the sound of it, that is; the page itself describes Sorabji and Alkan. It's hardly the only time that the description on the Concertzender page and the sound of the linked mp3 have been wholly at odds. It happens. Licensing reasons in this case, if I had to make a guess. Hopefully the 2nd organ symphony will be released on recording before too long!

Yes, they screwed up and they've admitted to having done so (and, as you imply, not for the first time); let's hope that what was (and, for that matter, still is!) scheduled as the "repeat" broadcast actually does take place. As to a commercial recording of that symphony, it looks most unlikely indeed unless a generous sponsor or ten comes forward pretty soon; any ideas will not unnaturally be greatly appreciated by those concerned.

[britishcomposer]

I wanted to record it but had another broadcast scheduled and so forgot about it...

[Sydney Grew]

. . . let's hope that what was (and, for that matter, still is!) scheduled as the "repeat" broadcast actually does take place. . . .

I hope I am wrong, but I fear this evening is going to be another disappointment - at least as far as the "listen later" business is concerned. This is because if one hovers one's rodent over the little loudspeaker in the programme schedule, one will see that it is already set up in advance to point to the broadcast of midnight on the tenth of May - which as we know was the wrong programme. If anyone has any contacts at the ConcertZender I would recommend a timely prod even at this late hour, just to make sure that the mistake is not repeated.

A major event such as this deserves rather more care . . .

[eschiss1]

The listen-again seems to start with music by Piotr Moss, which makes sense given. Thanks. Ah well. Wasn't that just half the symphony, with the second half to be broadcast on another night?

There's hope in the fact that Concertzender often a few years later rebroadcasts programs in their entirety as though new (new links, pages, though same programs)- maybe they'll do the "listen again" right next time (or I'll catch it at the time then) if so. Ah well!

[Gijs vdM]

Hello all,

I specially registred to answer to this posting! Yes, the original planned 1st broadcast went amiss (if not due to any fault by the programmer I add; he was quite upset about what happened!), but the scheduled 2nd (and now only) broadcast of Mvts 1 and 2 should go as planned coming night (i.e. 18May 00:00-07:00). The other two broadcasts of Mvt3 (and OS1) should also go as planned. I trust the Concertzneder has done averyhting they can to ensure this happens.
The listen on demand is only after an initial broadcast, hence it is not available yet (as the 'official broadcast has as yet to take place due to missing the 1st). These will be "MP3-quality".

So hopefully y'all wil be able to get your ears full yet!

All best,
Gijs

[Alan Howe]

Welcome to the forum, Gijs!

[JimL]

Thank you!  Come again!

[shamokin88]

Shamokin88 here at a little bit after 8:00 PM on the east coast of the USA, Thursday. I have put in a bit more than an hour's time with Conzertsender and the Sorabji 2nd Organ Symphony. I appreciate the efforts of all those who have made this possible but it is not for me. I am not partial to organ music in the main but, simply put, this demands more from me than I am able to give. I can deal with long pieces. I have heard Morton Feldman's 2nd String Quartet live and enjoyed it, mostly. I got it, anyway. This I do not get.
May it bring happiness to those who get it.

When I first played the CDs of the 1st Organ Symphony I had a vision of tangles of enormous pipes, big enough to crawl through, emitting clouds of acrid smoke into a vast, mostly dark interior space lit by occasional flashes of light. I want to hear more Sorabji but I think no more organ music

[Sydney Grew]

Many thanks to Gijs vdM for his assistance and advice.

I'm glad to report that my often unreliable internet connection behaved itself for the seven hours required to receive the live stream of this interesting programme in its entirety.

Incidentally the bit rate of the live stream is 192 kilobits per second, whereas the bit rate of the "listen on demand" facility ("uitzending gemist") is 160 kilobits per second. The sample rate for both is 44100 Hertz.

[Gijs vdM]

Shamokin88 here at a little bit after 8:00 PM on the east coast of the USA, Thursday. I have put in a bit more than an hour's time with Conzertsender and the Sorabji 2nd Organ Symphony. I appreciate the efforts of all those who have made this possible but it is not for me. I am not partial to organ music in the main but, simply put, this demands more from me than I am able to give. I can deal with long pieces. I have heard Morton Feldman's 2nd String Quartet live and enjoyed it, mostly. I got it, anyway. This I do not get.
May it bring happiness to those who get it.

When I first played the CDs of the 1st Organ Symphony I had a vision of tangles of enormous pipes, big enough to crawl through, emitting clouds of acrid smoke into a vast, mostly dark interior space lit by occasional flashes of light. I want to hear more Sorabji but I think no more organ music

Well, de gustibus and all that...

By stepping out after one hour you have missed the 2nd Movement, perhaps you would quite like at least the initial parts thereof! If you go to the Sorabji site's Forum, you may find under the posts regarding this work some files from someone who recorded the broadcast and offers them in seperate bits; I think the 2nd file will be the beginning of Mvt 2.
I quite like your 'vision' of OS1 mvt 1+2!

Feldman SQ2 live? Neuhhhhhh.....

[doctorpresume]

By stepping out after one hour you have missed the 2nd Movement, perhaps you would quite like at least the initial parts thereof! If you go to the Sorabji site's Forum, you may find under the posts regarding this work some files from someone who recorded the broadcast and offers them in seperate bits; I think the 2nd file will be the beginning of Mvt 2.
I quite like your 'vision' of OS1 mvt 1+2!

Feldman SQ2 live? Neuhhhhhh.....

Gijs - those five separate files over at the Sorabji Forum are .rar files that need to be downloaded individually but then "unpacked" simultaneously (with zip software of choice). If they're unzipped individually, the files come out broken, but if unzipped simultaneously, they're automatically reconstituted into complete files ("Introduction", "Movement 1", "Movement 2" and "applause"). I tried to do them individually two days ago, but couldn't get anywhere, so tried them simultaneously 24 hours ago and they came out perfectly, and indeed I'm listening to the marvellous 2nd movement right now...