Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji (1892-1988) was an unusual legend in his own lifetime: a Parsi composer and critic living in England whose compositions are of such length and difficulty that he felt compelled to ban public performances of them. This book, the first devoted to Sorabji, explores his life and character, his music, his articles and letters. It both presents the legend accurately and dispels its exaggerated aspects. The portrait which emerges is not of a crank or eccentric but of a highly original and accomplished musical thinker whom recent performances and recordings confirm as unique and important. Most of the contributors knew Sorabji personally. They have all written about or performed his music, gaining international recognition for their work. Generous quotation of Sorabji's published and unpublished music and prose assists in bringing him and his work strikingly to life. The book also contains the most complete and accurate register of his work ever published.

Two extraordinary personalities, and one remarkable friendship, are reflected in the unique corpus of letters from Anglo-Parsi composer-critic Kaikhosru Sorabji (1892-1988) to Philip Heseltine (Peter Warlock) (1894-1930): a fascinating primary source for the period 1913-1922 available in a complete scholarly edition for the first time. The volume also provides a new contextual, critical and interpretative framework, incorporating a myriad of perspectives: identities, social geographies, style construction, and mutual interests and influences. Pertinent period documents, including evidence of Heseltine’s reactions, enhance the sense of narrative and expand on aesthetic discussions. Through the letters’ entertaining and perceptive lens, Sorabji’s early life and compositions are vividly illuminated and Heseltine’s own intriguing life and work recontextualised. What emerges takes us beyond tropes of otherness and eccentricity to reveal a persona and a narrative with great relevance to modern-day debates on canonicity and identity, especially the nexus of ethnicity, queer identities and Western art music. Scholars, performers and admirers of early twentieth-century music in Britain, and beyond, will find this a valuable addition to the literature. The book will appeal to those studying or interested in early musical modernism and its reception; cultural life in London around and after the First World War; music, nationality and race; Commonwealth studies; and music and sexuality.

"The recordings made by Marc-Andre Hamelin in recent years have cast new light on an extraordinary group of composers - Alkan, Busoni, Feinberg, Godowsky, Medtner, Rachmaninov, Scriabin, and Sorabji - whose works heralded a Golden Age of virtuosic writing for the piano." "The Eight, as author Robert Rimm has termed these composer-pianists, have much in common, traits shared in our own age with Marc-Andre Hamelin, their foremost interpreter. For all their evident differences of age, nationality, and philosophy, they each created music of unprecedented ingenuity - often complex and of immense scale - that stretched the limits of the piano's capabilities. And all were genuine virtuosos with the technical resources to play these demanding works in public." "The volume includes rare photographs and concludes with an extensive bibliography, listings of the complete solo piano works of The Eight, and discographies of their solo piano recordings. In exploring the art of those who knew their instrument both as composers and as pianists, this book serves, in the words of pianist Stephen Hough, "both as a fascinating, exhaustive study of the riches of the past and as a stimulating inspiration for the future.""--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Sorabji surveys a vast range of Greek philosophical texts and considers how classical discussions of animals' capacities intersect with central questions, not only in ethics but in the definition of human rationality as well.

Religion is undergoing a transformation in current Western society. In addition to organized religions, there is a notable movement towards spirituality that is not associated with any institutions but in which experiences and notions of transcendence are still important. Transcendence can be described as God, the absolute, Mystery, the Other, the other as alterity, depending on one’s worldview. In this book, these shifts in the views of transcendence in various areas of culture such as philosophy, theology, art, and politics are explored on the basis of a fourfold heuristic model (proposed by Wessel Stoker). In conversation with this model, various authors, established scholars in their fields, explain the meaning and role, or the critique, of transcendence in the thought of contemporary thinkers, fields of discourse, or cultural domains. Looking Beyond? will stimulate further research on the theme of transcendence in contemporary culture, but can also serve as a textbook for courses in various disciplines, ranging from philosophy to theology, cultural studies, literature, art, and politics.

Unique in all of literature, the Confessions combines frank and profound psychological insight into Augustine's formative years along with sophisticated and beguiling reflections on some of the most important issues in philosophy and theology. The essays contained in this volume, by some of the most distinguished recent and contemporary thinkers in the field, insightfully explore Augustinian themes not only with an eye to historical accuracy but also to gauge the philosophical acumen of Augustine's reflections.