Naresh Sohal: String Quartets

The British-based Naresh Sohal, born in Punjab in 1939 but resident in the UK for most of his life, was the first person of Indian origin to make his mark as a composer of western classical music, writing works that displayed an unusual fusion of two cultures. The four quartets heard here – two of them being performed for the first time – document Sohal’s stylistic journey: the fireworks of Chiaroscuro II reflect the wild energy of European modernism, whereas the three later works are more considered in manner, incorporating occasional echoes of Indian music into their freewheeling counterpoint.

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Lila & Violin Concerto

The two works featured in this CD come from Sohal’s third decade as a professional composer and are among his most compelling. They reveal a stylistic change in his music in keeping with the rise of various kinds of neo-Romanticism in several parts of the Western world from the late 1960s. The shift is evident from the composer’s use of tonal motivic material; standard orchestral forces for evocative effects, and a less stringent harmonic language than that found in his works from the late 1960s, when his idiom was more closely aligned with those of the avant-garde.

The Concerto for Violin and Orchestra was composed in 1986, during Sohal’s stay in Scotland which began in 1983 and ended in 1994. It was first performed on 24th October 1992 by soloist Xue Wei with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra under Martyn Brabbins. In Lila, Sohal returned directly to Indian philosophy for inspiration. Sohal enlightens: ‘Lila is a Sanskrit word meaning the play of Nature in its latent and extant forms. According to Indian philosophy this interplay is cyclical in nature. The realisation of a work of art is an example of lila in action, because from nothing, something is brought forth: the latent is potentised so that it enters the realm of the immanent. However, the process whereby the artist achieves this actualisation is a process of sublimation, whereby s/he realises that which is latent within him/her. This, too, is lila.

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The Wanderer & Asht Prahar

In ‘Asht Prahar’ (composed in 1965) we hear a young man boldly expressing his unique cultural perceptions through the language of the Western avantgarde. In ‘The Wanderer’ (composed 1981) the composer, in his growing maturity, shows us his ability to marshal vast forces to create sweeping soundscapes in his exploration of the ultimate question: ‘What is the nature of this universe and our place in it?’

NARESH SOHAL: COMPLETE PIANO MUSIC

The British-based Naresh Sohal, born in Punjab in 1939, was the first person of Indian origin to make his mark as a composer of western classical music, writing works that displayed an usual kind of fusion – but not stylistic: his compositions often use the language of western modernism to explore the ideas of Hindu philosophy.