Various Composers - To Anatolia. Selections from The Turkish Five (Beyza Yazgan)

Information

1. Ahmet Adnan Saygun - Meşeli (Anadolu'dan)
2. Ferid Alnar - On The Slope (8 Piyano Parçası: Şu Yamaçta)
3. Ahmet Adnan Saygun - Sketch No.1 (Aksak Tartılar Üzerine 10 Taslak Op. 58)
4. Ahmet Adnan Saygun - Prelude No.4 (Aksak Tartılar Üzerine 12 Prelüd Op. 45)
5. Ulvi Cemal Erkin - Little Shepherd (Duyuşlar: Küçük Çoban)
6. Ulvi Cemal Erkin - The Brook (Duyuşlar: Dere)
7. Necil Kazım Akses - Village (Beş Piyano Parçası: Köy)
8. Cemal Reşit Rey - Horon (10 Halk Türküsü)
9. Necil Kazım Akses - Poem (5 Piyano Parçası: Şiir)
10. Ulvi Cemal Erkin - Halvah Maker (10 Halk Türküsü: Helvacı)
11. Ulvi Cemal Erkin - Game (Duyuşlar: IX. Oyun)
12. Ulvi Cemal Erkin - Five Drops: I. Animato (Beş Damla)
13. Ulvi Cemal Erkin - Five Drops: II. Lento (Beş Damla)
14. Ulvi Cemal Erkin - Five Drops: III. Tranquillo (Beş Damla)
15. Ulvi Cemal Erkin - Five Drops: IV. Energetico (Beş Damla)
16. Ulvi Cemal Erkin - Five Drops: V. Moderato (Beş Damla)
17. Ferid Alnar - Foggy Morning (Sekiz Piyano Parçası: Sisli Sabah)
18. Ulvi Cemal Erkin - Dont Weep My Beloved (Duyuşlar: Aǧ‎lama Yar Aǧ‎lama)
19. Necil Kazım Akses - Andante No.8 (10 Piyano Parçası)
20. Ferid Alnar - Moonlight Through the Curtain (8 Piyano Parçası: Perdeden Sızan Ay Işıǧı
21. Ulvi Cemal Erkin - Game (Duyuşlar: V. Oyun)
22. Ahmet Adnan Saygun - Sonatina Op.15, I. Allegro
23. Ahmet Adnan Saygun - Sonatina Op.15, II. Adagio con moto
24. Ahmet Adnan Saygun - Sonatina Op.15, III. Prestissimo
25. Ferid Alnar - Languorous Dance (8 Piyano Parçası: Uyuşuk Dans)
26. Ferid Alnar - Zeybek Dance (Piyano Için Oyun Havaları: Zeybek Havası)

Beyza Yazgan, piano

Date: 2021

Label: Bridge Records

https://bridgerecords.com/products/9549

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Review

The most familiar groups of composers linked by nationality are probably the ‘Russian Five’ and the French ‘Les Six’. On the other hand, the ‘Turkish Five’ (Ahmet Adnan Saygun, Ferid Alnar, Ulvi Cemal Erkin, Cemal Reşit Rey and Necil Kazım Akses) get relatively little press, an issue that pianist Beyza Yazgan aims to put right with ‘To Anatolia’, a recital largely made up of short pieces.

It begins with Saygun’s gently loping Meşeli (‘Oak-filled mountains’), leading into Alnar’s tuneful and subtly embellished On the Slope. The mood accelerates with Yazgan’s deft handling of the quick seven-beat patterns in Saygun’s first Sketch on Aksak Rhythms. If you don’t have five minutes for Ravel’s Jeux d’eau, then take 37 gratifying seconds over Erkin’s babbling brook. Rey’s Horon is a more extended seven-beat showpiece, while Erkin’s Five Drops suite organically fuses folk traditions and defiant dissonances. The suggestive ostinatos and sparse textures distinguishing Alnar’s Moonlight through the Curtain deserve a special mention, as well as the same composer’s slowly building, quasi-ceremonial Zeybek Dance.

Because the composers share a common sensibility and orientation, their pieces tend to stand out more when heard separately or a few at a time. In this regard, I would have welcomed at least one more longer multi-movement work to compliment Saygun’s vividly contrasted Sonatina, Op 15. While Yazgan unquestionably internalises Saygun’s idiom, she takes the third movement at considerably less than the Prestissimo evident from Gülsin Onay’s more buoyant and incisive recording (Aulos). And Yazgan’s sensitive and straightforward reading of the central Adagio con moto doesn’t match Onay’s exquisite tonal shadings and textural differentiation. However, a high level of thought, care and commitment clearly inform Yazgan’s programming and presentation, including her extensive annotations.

-- Jed Distler, Gramophone

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Beyza Yazgan is a Turkish pianist and composer. She completed her degree at the Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University State Conservatory and started her doctoral studies at the Warsaw Chopin Academy of Music. Yazgan has performed numerous times as a soloist and has toured her native Turkey giving recitals. She has also organized and performed benefit recitals at the British and Italian Embassies in Istanbul to fundraise and bring awareness for childhood cancers and for Syrian refugees. Besides playing the piano, Yazgan also draws illustrations. She currently lives in New York and teaches private piano lessons.

https://www.beyzayazgan.com/

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