Top award in classical music goes to Fazıl Say

Hurriyet Daily News with wires

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Renowned Turkish pianist and composer Fazıl Say has a received a prestigious European award for classical music for his self-titled Oct. 2008 album recorded with Moldovan violinist Patricia Kopatchinskaja.

Say and Kopatchinskaja received the Echo Award, which is given out each year by the Deutsche Phono-Akademie, an association of German recording companies, in the "Best Chamber Music" category for "Kopatchinskaja / Say: Beethoven Ravel Bartok Say."

The album includes Say’s 1997 work "Sonata Op7," as well as versions of Ludwig van Beethoven’s "Kreutzer Sonata," Maurice Ravel’s "Sol Major Sonata" and Bela Bartok’s "Roman Dances." The album, recorded in Oct. 2007 and released by the Naive Classics label, garnered Say his second Echo Award, the best-known European honor for classical-music albums. "My previous Echo Award was in the category of the best solo [performance]," he told the Anatolia news agency. "I won this award for my CD on which I reinterpreted Igor Stravinsky’s ’The Rite of Spring’ in 2001."

Preparation for new concerts

Artists who win the award participate in various activities, Say said, noting they would each give a interview and a 10-minute concert that will be broadcast live on the German ZDF channel in the spring.

"We have been working with Kopatchinskaja for five years and have performed more than 100 concerts in various places around the world," said Say, who added that their latest concert in Turkey was held to benefit the Association in Support of Contemporary Living in Istanbul on May 2. "The late chair of the association, Prof. Türkan Saylan, attended the concert," he noted.

Say said their concerts would continue throughout the year, with the next one scheduled for July 31 at the Salzburg Music Festival. Kopatchinskaja has also performed his violin concerto "1001 Nights in the Harem" in Ankara, Istanbul and İzmir after the work’s first performance in Switzerland.

"That work features Turkish styles of music and has been performed in various countries," said Say. "It has been performed in Japan and France and will be performed in Austria in October of this year and Germany in 2010."

The Echo Award, which is regarded as the equivalent of the American Grammy Award, is given out in various categories for both classical and pop music. Previous pop winners have included Madonna, Mariah Carey, Robbie Williams, Amy Winehouse, Depeche Mode, Celine Dion, Shakira, Bon Jovi, Queen and Michael Jackson, who died on June 25.



’Lycian Princess,’ Say’s

new work

Talking about his newest work, Say said he features in his notes an imaginary princess who lived in ancient times. The 15-minute work, "Lycian Princess," which he composed on guitar, will be performed for the first time at a guitar festival in Tokyo on Aug. 2. Say said he completed the piece after two or three months of work and that he had composed it based upon a request by the Tokyo Guitar Competition.

"Lycian Princess" is Say’s second guitar concerto. "There are some ancient Anatolian modes, like Ionian, Aeolian and Frigian, in music," he said. "This work has been composed in the Lokrial mode, which is no longer used, but is believed have been used by the Lycians. I used it in my work because I am interested in this period. The themes of the work go back 3,000 to 4,000 years."

Noting that he had sent the work to Turkish guitarists, Say said, "It will be performed in Turkey if they want to perform it."

After finishing a busy European tour, Say took a 10-day break before embarking on another one. He is currently in the French city of Saou, where, as part of a festival in the city, Say will take the stage to perform works by Mozart and Haydn.

On July 9 and 10, he will perform Prokofieff’s 3rd concerto in Stuttgart, Germany, and then appear in the Italian city of Cernobbio on July 17. Say’s final concert in this month will be July 31 in the Austrian city of Salzburg, where he will appear on stage with Kopatchinskaja as part of another festival.