Fazil Say - 1001 Nights in the Harem (Patricia Kopatchinskaja)

Information

Composer: Fazil Say

1. Violin Concerto '1001 Nights in the Harem': I. Allegro
2. Violin Concerto '1001 Nights in the Harem': II. Allegro assai
3. Violin Concerto '1001 Nights in the Harem': III. Andantino
4. Violin Concerto '1001 Nights in the Harem': IV.
5. Alla Turca Jazz, Fantasia on the Rondo from the Piano Sonata in A major K331 by Mozart
6. Patara Ballet
7. Summertime Variations

Patricia Kopatchinskaja, violin

Lucerne Symphony Orchestra

John Axelrod, conductor

Fazil Say, piano

Date: 2008

Label: Naïve

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Review

Having formed a performing duo with Patricia Kopatchinskaja in 2006, gifted pianist–composer Fazil Say composed this violin concerto for her only last year. Based on the same 1001 Nights tale made famous by Rimsky-Korsakov in his Sheherazade, Say’s four-movement concerto also casts the solo violin as the work’s principal storyteller. The first takes place inside the harem; the second at an all-night party; the third the following morning in the form of a set of variations on a well-known Turkish song; and the finale pulls together the various strands, ending with a highly evocative series of intoxicating sonorities.

The results are nothing short of sensational, with Kopatchinskaja bewitching the senses in playing of beguiling sensuality and rhythmic allure. At times she traces the work’s seductive cool with such enraptured precision that it feels almost as though she is composing the music as she goes along. Mesmerising artistry, captured in state-of-the-art sound, alongside three other non-string works that provide further insight into Say’s highly contagious creative world.

-- Julian Haylock, The Strad

More reviews:
https://www.classical-music.com/reviews/orchestral/fazil-say-1001-nights-harem

https://www.allmusic.com/album/fazil-say-1001-nights-in-the-harem-mw0001404815

https://www.amazon.com/Fazil-Say-1001-Nights-Harem/dp/B001JPB9LO

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Fazıl Say (born 14 January 1970 in Ankara) is a Turkish pianist and composer. He began studying piano at age 3 and wrote his first piece – a piano sonata – at the age of 14. Say attracted international attention with the piano piece Black Earth (1997), and since then has increasingly turned to the large orchestral forms. In 2007 he aroused international interest with his Violin Concerto 1001 Nights in the Harem, and after that scored further great successes with his symphonies. On 15 April 2013, Say was sentenced to 10 months in jail for his crime of "insulting religious values". The conviction was reversed on 26 October 2015.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fazıl_Say

https://fazilsay.com/

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Patricia Kopatchinskaja (born March 1977) is a Moldovan-Austrian-Swiss violinist. She studied at the Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst Wien and the Hochschule der Künste Bern. Kopatchinskaja has played with most of the important European orchestras including Vienna, Berlin and London Philharmonic. She regularly plays in Japan and Australia and recently also extended her activity to the United States, South America, Russia and China. Her regular chamber music partners include Sol Gabetta, Reto Bieri and Joonas Ahonen, among others. She plays a violin made by Giovanni Francesco Pressenda in 1834.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patricia_Kopatchinskaja

https://www.patriciakopatchinskaja.com/

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