Sorabji, KS :: Il tessuto d'arabeschi
Il tessuto d'arabeschi is the penultimate of the five chamber works without voices written by Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji during his long compositional career of seventy years. With a performance time of approximately 17 minutes, it is a rather modest work when compared to his most massive essays in the field of chamber music, with the Piano Quintets and their performance times of hours.
Sorabji's description of this work to his friend Norman Gentieu is as follows:
'The strings in the flute quintet are in no manner or means just an accompaniment to the flute. The work might be called in a manner of speaking a Concertino non Gross. It is designed as all my later works are, a TESSUTO IN SOUND from which the threads cannot be dissociated... same as what happens if you pulled out strand by strand of a Persian rug until the rug ceased to exist.'
The string parts form a very active contrapuntal structure, and all instruments play constantly but for very few exceptions. The flute part is usually given drawn-out lines with occasional flourishes or cadenzas, with two stretches of alto flute (though with a C flute ossia).
The most striking feature of Sorabji's writing in Il tessuto d'arabeschi is the melodic and rhythmic freedom of the five parts. The freely chromatic lines are supple yet torturous, and exhibit a bewildering variety of groupings that nonetheless mesh - a signature of Sorabji's compositional output. Dedicated to Frederick Delius, the work ends with a four-note reference to Delius's death.
For very advanced players; a conductor may or may not be required.
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