Kaikhosru Sorabji: Djâmî (Eric Xi Xin Liang)

Recorded on June 18th, 2021 at home. Learned and refined in approximately 55 hours. Listen with headphones for the best experience!

--- (preamble)
If you HAVE heard this piece before, I recommend observing and possibly admiring the stylishly handwritten score lol.
If you HAVEN'T heard this piece before and in general haven't heard anything like Sorabji's work, which is probably the case for most people, this is not the piece to start off with. Music like this requires extensive ear training and a kind of cognitive conditioning through repeated exposure to music in this style. Take a look at how I arrived where I am today (    • A Decade of Music Performance: How I got t...   ) and also have a listen to this more beginner-friendly piece (    • Kaikhosru Sorabji: Le Jardin Parfumé (Eric...   ).
On a side note, pardon the visual cuts. They are for removing the few seconds that I take to flip each page.
As well, I'm using a performance version of the score so there's less page flipping, but that version also has minor differences from the score on screen.
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--- (more preamble)
I believe being able to mentally identify major sections in this piece will help with being able to sit through it. Here I've listed them and timestamped it so you're able to see divisions in the progress bar of the video. I haven't done a thorough analysis of this piece, so I'm not sure what to call the sections, so I'll use numbers to not upset anyone:
1. 0:00
2. 3:31
3. 7:58
4. 14:45
5. 17:17
6. 23:24
7. 27:54
Let me know if you think it should be divided in a different way, but also take note that I would not like it to be too granular, otherwise the divider markers in the progress bar may look overwhelming.
My favourite moments in this piece are 5:55, 10:01, 16:20, 21:41, and 23:24.
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This is the longest continuous unsegmented (i.e. no movements, variations) piece I've ever worked on and, finally, after 2 - 3 months of toil where I worked sometimes on this piece, sometimes felt like giving up, sometimes had final exams which delayed this a bit, sometimes had job interviews which interfered with priority, and sometimes just stared at the score for days trying to piece things together, I feel like I've got something unique, provocative, transcendental, nebulous, and mind-bending. As people keeping up with this channel, I posted 4 status updates on this piece, since I believe prior exposure to this piece through excerpts really helps one digest the music better. Otherwise, the piece introduces too many new elements too quickly and that can be mentally overwhelming.

This recording might be slower than you might expect, given that all other recordings on YouTube are about 4 - 8 minutes faster. However, I believe what I achieve is drawing out expression adequately and uncovering colours in the music which aren't trivially visible. But, most importantly to note, I don't think any part of this drags because of the pacing. It might only feel like the piece goes on for a long time because of the constant introduction of new material with few thematic landmarks. Despite that, I recommend when listening to have less expectations of conventional musical form and more of an exploratory mindset of what Sorabji's choice of texture and mainly polychord-based colouring conveys atmospherically. At points, you might feel euphoric and lightheaded, and at other times you might feel in complete desolation, grasping on dissolving strands of hope.

Anyway, this was certainly a humongous challenge to complete, but I found that having this challenge helped me grow in my skills of performing polyrhythms and producing compelling interpretations. I'd say few people have the willingness to tackle a piece like this, so I treasure the fact that I have had this opportunity. I might continue forward with Gulistan by Sorabji or I may try something different on this channel... something requested by the audience that I'm aware of, but I'll leave you in the dark about that. :P

At time of recording, Eric is a 4th year Computer Science student at the University of Waterloo.

#piano #music #sorabji #solo #polyrhythm #expressive #relaxing #homerecording #difficult #classical #postromantic