Compare and contrast:
Your allegation that you are "hardly surprised" appears to be based on your having first made as assumption (oh dear - mustn't make those, must we?!), namely that Sorabji's music "rarely gets performed", yet you offer no clue as to what "rarely" might mean to you in this context
So far, just one of Sorabji's seven piano symphonies has been performed and recorded (the fifth and shortest).
Compare and contrast what, exactly? The point at issue here is that, 35 years or so ago, hardly any of Sorabji's works had been performed or broadcast and none recorded. There have since been performances of almost two-thirds of them in over 20 countries and there have been some 35 recordings made, of which many remain available today. Yes. there's a long way to go, but...
There is only one single argument for performing music - and that's because it is good. Nothing else matters. THE MAGIC FLUTE is an extraordinary work covering most of the the vast range of human emotions in a single work. BASTIEN & BASTIENNE is dreck. Both are by Mozart. Yet the latter gets performances (including one staged by myself - under contractual obligation) - purely because the composer of THE MAGIC FLUTE wrote it. We'd do far better to devote the performance resources to something by Salieri.
Much as I agree with you here, the problem is and will always be that, in most cases, there will never be general consensus on what's good and what isn't; furthermore, music has to be performed first before people can decide for themselves whether or not they might think it to be good.
Works of art should not depend on external heart-tugging circumstances for their popularity. I've staged Ullmann's THE KAISER OF ATLANTIS, because it's a stunningly good piece of music-theatre. I turned down a production (and a big fee) of Fried's DIARY OF ANNE FRANK because it's sentimental tosh. [They found someone else, and I went to see what had been done - sadly it was a fiasco, and the producers closed it after the opening night. The topic deserved better than it got.]
Fair comment.
I really don't care whether Sorabji had a happy life or a sad one. What matters is whether the music is any good.
But did anyone ask you to care about that? Most people who listen to his music will not have met or corresponded with him. Apart from that, I agree with you.
