I don't find his style ridicolous at all; in fact, I find a tremendously classic composer, and the only work of his that seems "insane" to me is his Second Symphony, and that's a masterwork. Like Shostakovich, he obviously liked strongly musical grotesque humor, but in a much more smooth manner than Shostakovich's. Except for the three War sonatas, I find his Sonatas eccentrical, but in a candid, joyful and impressively skilful way, and I find his piano Sonatas much more classic than Shostakovich's (take a look at no.1), Myaskovsky's and even Kabalevsky's ones. I have studied the five first ones, and I really love them :wub: .
:blush: Now, this is a insane composer. Though, I don't think Opus Clavicembilisticum is Sorabji's most demanding work; I find this Third Piano Sonata much more overwhelming; it's not as long as Opus... (just two hours :)) and it's not as formalistic as it, but it makes Alkan's works look like La Tarara; it's nearly unplayable. Though, I agree that Opus Clavicembilisticum is an absolutely overwhelming work. Paradoxically, his set of 100 (yes, 100) Trascendental Etudes is much less demanding than it.
It's a pity that Sorabji made so much for being relegated to ostracism. It's one of the most audacious composers ever, and he joined and astondishing technique and a genuine compositive personality. I'm not sure I love his works, but they're impressive, all of them.
PD Another work in this line is Rzewski's 33 Variations on El pueblo unido jam
