If the thought of Turkish music conjures up visions of snake charmers and fortune-tellers for you, it’s high time to think again! 2007 marks the centenary of the birth of the great contemporary Turkish composer Ahmet Adnan Saygun, born in Izmir, or Smyrna, a city on Turkey’s Aegean coast where much Greek and Turkish blood has flown, and an apt reminder of how closely interwoven the history of these two peoples is.

 

Saygun was a significant figure in the transition from centuries of Ottoman rule to the secular Turkish Republic, founded by Atatürk when the composer was a mere sixteen years old. He succeeded in achieving an international outlook in his music that was at the same time national, and in developing his art without breaking away from his roots. He is perhaps best know outside Turkey for having joined Bela Bartók on a folk music study tour of Anatolia in 1936 and for his Yunus Emre Oratorio, first performed to acclaim in France in 1947.

 

But Saygun was a prolific composer who contributed to virtually every genre of classical music, including opera. His cello concerto, an evocative late work, was composed in a neo-classical four-movement framework, this being clear evidence of his studies in Paris. Despite all the European forms and techniques, however, Saygun’s music is reminiscent of the sound of his country, by virtue of distinct modal patterns and metrics resulting in his own unique style. Nonetheless, he often reminds us of the work of Shostakovich or Prokofiev: small wonder perhaps considering that the Turkish Republican cultural reforms had quite a bit in common with the initial ideals of Soviet-style socialism. One can only hope that during this anniversary year Saygun’s work will be heard outside Turkey even more than in the past, perhaps also resulting in more available recordings – at present, three of his symphonies and his violin concerto are to be had from cpo, but more would be welcome (this is music you want to listen to, not read about!), especially the cello concerto, played exquisitely in Athens by cellist Rahsan Güvençer, an artist who is obviously intimately familiar with this mature piece by the composer who succeeded in merging Western classical and Turkish folk and art music.

 

Rahsan Güvençer

 

Though the concerto was the focal point of the evening’s program, this marvelous orchestra’s other offerings were no less commendable, including works by Turkish composers such as Ulvi Cemal Erkin, Ferit Tüzün, and the symphonic poem The Death of the Gallant Woman, an old warhorse of Greek orchestras by the much revered Hellenic composer Manolis Kalomiris (whose name the Greek National Conservatory bears with pride). By all accounts of those present, this work has seldom been performed so beautifully! The evening closed with conductor Selma Ada’s Symphony No. 1.; he may come across as a bit of an eccentric on stage, but this is a clever piece making one curious to find out more about his opera Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves, currently showing at Istanbul State Opera, where he was also recently appointed artistic director.

 

The only flaw to this commendable initiative, including a concert in the same vein given by Athens State Orchestra in Istanbul a day earlier, on January 11^th, was that attendance was disgracefully poor. The musicians on stage nearly outnumbered their audience, presumably due to lack of publicity. Granted, the evening was scheduled after the Megaron Concert Hall’s annual program had gone to the printers, but surely more could have been done to advertise it, seeing this was not just another concert but rather a quite an extraordinary event? Regardless, those of us who were there will certainly spread the word, and hope that the exciting perspective of building musical bridges between Istanbul and Athens (or perhaps Ankara and Thessaloniki next time?!) will be carried forward.

 

Anyone interested in reading more about opera in Turkey should look here, and more about Athens State Orchestra is to be found here.

 

Bettina Mara