FARAZ HAIDER performs NARESH SOHAL

Описание: Naresh Sohal (1939-2018) was an Indian-born composer, the first composer from any country in the South Asian Subcontinent to "make it big" in the Anglospheric West, with important champions in the contemporary era such as the conductors Zubin Mehta and Sir Andrew Davis.

The piece "Prayer" (composed in 2006 and performed here) is in two movements. The first movement is an Adagio that evokes raagas while also bringing a perfumed, almost Debussy-like aesthetic to the piano writing. The second movement is an Allegretto, which I informally refer to as a toccata, with the dissonant clusters referencing the "pranam" bowing of the elbows found in Indian culture.

This is not a note-perfect performance, and I am far from a perfect representative of this culture, as my grandparents migrated from India to Pakistan during the British-approved Partition for their safety; but I felt it was important to give this music a serious look, and to do my part to let the fine arts transcend the messy politics of the Subcontinent. This is of course, in spite of me using a rather lackluster digital piano.

I will be performing this piece properly on two more occasions: once for my Junior Recital "Beyond Borders" (which will also feature unusual transcriptions from the fringes of the western canon), and once for a local event about underrepresented composers.

‪@nareshsohal1931‬ (The late composer's channel!)

My discord server (For good times with me and my friend ‪@Vincent_Xia‬!)
https://dsc.gg/thesocietymus

0:00 Adagio
5:59 Allegretto (Toccata)

#classical_piano #south_asia #subcontinent #piano_music #faraz_haider_piano