/ 24 August 2007

Music as a means of hope

Turkish composer Fazil Say returns to South Africa to perform in two concerts, writes Dillon Davie.

Fazil Say, Turkish-born pianist, composer and musician extraordinaire, has performed across the planet in prestigious concert halls and with top- flight orchestras. It was in South Africa, however, where Say was touched by the “fantastic human moment” of working with a diverse local orchestra, drawn together specifically for the Music is a Great Investment (Miagi) festival last year.

Miagi has become an annual event that strives to “unite indigenous, classical and jazz” through cross-cultural performances by top South African and international musicians.

Say draws comparisons between the social problems this country shares with his home country Turkey, but says that festivals like Miagi offer hope through music for both countries.

Say returns to South Africa this week, again in affiliation with Miagi for two more concerts, performing his own music as well as works by Mozart, Haydn, Ravel, and Mussorgsky.

He says he sees himself as a “natural composer” more so than a pianist, as he started out creating his own music before he even sat down at the keyboard. His musical career was kick-started in 1994 when he won the Young Concert Artists International Auditions, after his studies at the Berlin Conservatory. He currently tours internationally almost non-stop, performing classics by Mozart, Beethoven and other masters as well as his own original piano music, including four piano concertos thus far.

Say also works as a chamber music player, forming partnerships with other esteemed soloists such as Maxim Vengerov, Yuri Bashmet and Shlomo Mintz.

His compositional work has not been solely for himself, and includes oratorios, ballet and film soundtracks. Say is currently working on a new violin concerto, to be premiered in Tokyo and Switzerland at the beginning of next year.

On top of having enough work to keep three full-time musicians busy, the composer also has a life-long passion for jazz, with influences such as Chick Corea and Keith Jarrett. He is also a gifted improviser, a skill he exhibited by forming a jazz quartet with ney (Persian flute) virtuoso Kudsi Ergüner in his native Turkey and collaborating with jazz heavyweights such as Bobby McFerrin. These undertakings have included performances at the Montreux and Istanbul Jazz Festivals.

Say will present concerts in Cape Town at the Baxter Concert Hall on August 29 and at the Linder Auditorium in Johannesburg on September 4. He will be one of the first pianists to put the Linder’s brand new Steinway grand, his favoured instrument, through its paces. Say will also be presenting an educational workshop at the College of Music at the University of Cape Town on the August 30

CD REVIEW

Fazil Say

Haydn Piano Sonatas (Naivwe Classique)

For a classical performer, Fazil Say has explored an unusually broad range of musical avenues. A concert pianist devoting so much energy to his own composing career, let alone jumping into jazz performance and improvisation, is almost unheard of. On his new album, Say takes a break from his avant-garde experimentations and broadens his palette even further with a recording of five piano sonatas by 18th-century composer Joseph Haydn.

Say, who has already proved himself to be an astonishing talent on the piano, turns his attention to these polished gems of the classical period. Haydn is the quintessential composer of classicism, a musical style that embraces order, elegance and simplicity, in contrast to the Romanticism that succeeded it. Say’s bright Steinway sound is exuberant, sturdier then that of the earlier keyboard instruments this music was originally written for, but perhaps better suited to more distracted 21st- century ears.

Say has said that he approached this recording as a storyteller, and brings a joyful excitement to these major-key sonatas. My only criticism here is perhaps that these sonatas, though magnificently played in themselves, are perhaps too similar in style to maintain the interest of a more casual listener through the full 58 minutes. — Dillon Davie