Turkish Flavours - 100 Years of Turkish Symphonic Music Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin & Howard Griffiths

• Ahmed Adnan Saygun (1907 - 1991): Ayin Raks, Op. 57:
• 1 Saygun: Ayin Raks, Op. 57 08:45
• Cemal Reşit Rey (1904 - 1985): Enstantaneler:
• 2 Rey: Enstantaneler: No. 1, Balıkçılar Ağları Çekerken 02:22
• 3 Rey: Enstantaneler: No. 2, Âmâ Dilenci Kadın 01:33
• 4 Rey: Enstantaneler: No. 3, Eyüp Güvercinleri 00:44
• 5 Rey: Enstantaneler: No. 4, Boş Cami İçi 01:11
• 6 Rey: Enstantaneler: No. 5, Bayram 01:59
• Ulvi Cemal Erkin (1906 - 1972): Senfonik Bölüm:
• 7 Erkin: Senfonik Bölüm 14:59
• Necil Kâzım Akses (1908 - 1999): Poème:
• 8 Akses: Poème 11:54
• Ferit Tüzün (1929 - 1977): Türk Kapriçyosu:
• 9 Tüzün: Türk Kapriçyosu 07:07
• Mahir Cetiz (b. 1977): Nehrin Düşleri:
• 10 Cetiz: Nehrin Düşleri 11:12
• Fazil Say (b. 1970): Şahmeran, Op. 85:
• 11 Say: Şahmeran, Op. 85: I. Şahmeran’ım cennet Bahçesi 07:30
• 12 Say: Şahmeran, Op. 85: II. İhanet 07:58
• Zeynep Gedizlioğlu (b. 1977): Kayıp Sessizliğin Anısına Rağmen:
• 13 Gedizlioğlu: Kayıp Sessizliğin Anısına Rağmen 09:54
• Sinem Altan (b. 1985): String Quartet No. 1:
• 14 Altan: String Quartet No. 1 “hırçın“ 05:59
• Onur Türkmen (b. 1972): Gel:
• 15 Türkmen: Gel 07:23
• Total Runtime 01:40:30

Info for Turkish Flavours - 100 Years of Turkish Symphonic Music

If you ask classical music connoisseurs in this country about music by Turkish composers, the name Fazıl Say is likely to come to mind – but beyond that, there’s no idea! According to the British conductor Howard Griffiths, a lot has happened in the 100 years of the Turkish Republic’s existence: the Ankara Conservatory was founded in 1936 at the suggestion of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk; music students were sent to Europe and the USA for training. Starting with the ‘Turkish Five’, the pioneering generation of classical Turkish composers, an independent classical music tradition was able to develop, and a rich and lively musical landscape has emerged in Turkey. Today, there are six opera houses and numerous symphony orchestras in Turkey, and a young generation of performers and composers has emerged whose music powerfully combines classical and traditional Turkish music to create original works.

‘I send you out as sparks and want you to return as volcanoes!’ With these words, the Turkish state founder Kemal Atatürk is said to have sent young students to Europe and the USA – including many musicians. The volcano, writes conductor Howard Griffiths, who has a close relationship with Turkey and its culture, in the foreword to the album Turkish Flavours: this volcano was created and its fire continues to burn. On the double album, which was produced to mark the 100th anniversary of modern Turkey, he gives an insight into the diverse and rich symphonic oeuvre of Turkish composers on the podium of the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin.

While the first part of the album of the double album is dedicated to the first (or second) generation of composers of classical music in Turkey, the so-called ‘Turkish Five’, the second part features works by the younger generation of composers.

The composers of the ‘Turkish Five’ studied in Europe and combined Western symphonic music with the traditional music of Turkey in different ways – such as Cemal Reşit Rey (1904-1985), who took composition lessons from Gabriel Fauré and sketches a vibrant and lively picture of the Bosphorus metropolis in extremely colourful ‘snapshots’, or Ulvi Cemal Erkin (1906-1972), who studied with Nadia Boulanger and combines Turkish makams, traditional folk melodies and complex rhythms with the full sound of the symphony orchestra in his symphonic movement, or Necil Kâzım Akses (1908-1999), whose Poème reflects his love of Turkish poetry.

The composers of today’s generation, who have worked who have studied in Germany, France or the USA, look back at their own roots – through the eyes of Western music: be it the Berklee College of Music-trained Onur Türkmen (*1972), whose music is performed by many ensembles at festivals in Europe and the USA, be it the probably internationally best-known Turkish pianist and composer Fazıl Say, who in Şahmeran brings the old Anatolian legend of the tragic fate of Queen Şahmeran to life in a dazzling atmospheric landscape, or the rebellious, intense string quartet ‘hırçın’- widerspenstig (2015) by the young composer Sinem Altan (*1985), who has won several awards in Germany and Turkey: They all combine Western classical tradition with the heritage of their culture in their own individual way.

And so we can only agree with Howard Griffiths› wish that this album should serve as an inspiration to “discover more of this little-known treasure of Turkish music”.

Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin
Howard Griffiths, conductor

Howard Griffiths
was born in England and studied at the Royal College of Music in London. He has lived in Switzerland since 1981. From 1996 to 2006 Howard Griffiths was artistic director and chief conductor of the Zurich Chamber Orchestra, whose long and excellent tradition he successfully continued and developed extensively. This also included many tours in Europe, the USA and China. The public and the press reacted enthusiastically to this collaboration both in Switzerland and abroad.

From 2007 to 2018 Howard Griffiths was General Music Director of the Brandenburg State Orchestra in Frankfurt. His start to his first season was enthusiastically received in 2007 by the press: «Howard Griffiths immediately made it clear where the journey with him and the state orchestra will go: to lightness, ease and transparency... in addition to all the emotional intensity and expressive simplicity, subtleties and thematic developments suddenly became apparent... That makes us curious and excited about other Griffiths repertoire revelations.» (MOZ)

In addition, he has appeared as a guest conductor with many leading orchestras worldwide; these include the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra London, the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the Orchester National de France, the Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra of Moscow Radio, the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, the Warsaw Philharmonic, the Symphony Orchestra Basel, and the London Mozart Players, the Orquesta Nacional de España, Taipei Symphony Orchestra, various radio orchestras in Germany (the orchestra of the NDR, the Radiophilharmonie Hannover, the Sinfonieorchester des WDR, the hr-Sinfonieorchester, the Deutsche Radio Philharmonie), the Polish Chamber Orchestra and the English Chamber Orchestra and the Northern Sinfonia.

Howard Griffiths is also regularly involved in contemporary music. With the Collegium Novum Zurich, he directed the Swiss premiere of Hans Werner Henze‘s Requiem in the presence of the composer and worked closely with composers such as Sofia Gubaidulina, George Crumb, Arvo Pärt and Mauricio Kagel.

Howard Griffiths is always enthusiastic about new, unusual projects: with the Basel Symphony Orchestra he perfor- med Gustav Mahler‘s 8th Symphony, the «Symphony of a Thousand», with over a thousand participants; Together with the Zurich Chamber Orchestra (ZKO), successful crossover projects have been created with Giora Feidman, Roby Lakatos, Burhan Öcal or Abdullah Ibrahim; with great success he also conducted the original music for films by Charles Chaplin live with the ZKO for film projection on a big screen.

More than a hundred and fifty CD recordings on various labels (Warner, Universal, cpo, Sony, Koch and others) testify to Howard Griffiths’ broad artistic spectrum. For example, they contain works by contemporary Swiss and Turkish composers as well as first recordings of rediscovered music from the 18th and 19th centuries. This also includes more than 40 symphonies by Beethoven‘s contemporaries and the early Romanesque. His recordings of all eight symphonies by Beethoven‘s student Ferdinand Ries have received great praise from critics worldwide. The readers of the English magazine «Classic CD» chose Griffiths’ recording of works by Gerald Finzi as «Classic CD of the Year» in this category. The recording of all four Brahms symphonies also received great praise: «... the result is an excitingly pulsating reproduction of the symphonies ... However, such flights of fancy are only possible with a sound body that makes music at the highest level and is based on trust with the conductor. Both apply to the excellent, highly motivated Brandenburg State Orchestra Frankfurt.» (Radioswissclassic)

Booklet for Turkish Flavours - 100 Years of Turkish Symphonic Music