What do classical pianists of today and the past have in common? Sometimes not too much, as many of today’s pianists merely present older works while adhering to conservative traditions of interpretation. But pianists of the past like Mozart, Beethoven, and Chopin performed their works and improvisations for the public. The spirit of that exciting tradition was alive and well at Carnegie Hall on Tuesday night, as the Turkish pianist and composer Fazıl Say offered a program split between classic repertoire and his own compositions to a full and enthusiastic house.
Say is an acclaimed pianist-composer with long ties to New York, having won the Young Concert Artists competition here, which helped launch his career. He has gone on to receive many prestigious prizes and fellowships and has recorded several notable albums. Through his first piano teacher Mithat Fenmen, his musical lineage traces back to Frédéric Chopin. Say has performed with many of the world’s leading orchestras and has had pieces commissioned by leading organizations, including the BBC and the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. Among his works are symphonies, oratorios, solo concertos, and piano and chamber music pieces. Spontaneity and immediacy of expression are hallmarks of his playing, and both came to the fore throughout the concert.
The first half of the program put two dark and stormy works in relief. The first was Ferruccio Busoni’s mammoth arrangement of the Chaconne from J.S. Bach’s Violin Partita No. 2 in D minor. Bach’s original piece, built from a repeating bassline, is a touchstone of the violin repertoire. Busoni puts a pianistic spin on the piece that heightens its depth and intensity, with booming chords and many running passages that show off the piano’s capabilities. Say dug in, playing into the opening chords’ profound grandeur that gave way to the cinematic nature of Busoni’s arrangement. In the loudest parts, Say achieved a crystalline, bell-like sound that captured the piece’s drama. In quieter moments, Say brought out a sumptuous warmth from the piano.
The second piece was Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No. 17, nicknamed The Tempest because it shifts rapidly between calm and turbulent moods. The piece opens with a subtle, expectant arpeggio that every pianist handles differently. Say played the arpeggio in a way that was at once intense yet delicate, not giving away the shocking breakthrough of energy in the next measure—reminiscent of subtle raindrops that may not portend a storm. Throughout some of Beethoven’s faster passages, Say’s dynamics were remarkably intense, which sometimes made the texture indistinct. But his playing was always interesting throughout, and thoroughly his own.
One gets the sense that Say is channeling music from somewhere beyond the physical confines of the piano. It was fascinating to hear Say’s approach to the Bach-Busoni and Beethoven, but the real highlight of the evening was to experience Say playing his own works. Overall, Say’s playing was most wonderful in the upper register of the piano, where he achieved a hushed, otherworldly sound that was exquisitely lyrical. Say uses extended techniques in two of the works he played: the Piano Sonata, Op. 99, Yeni Hayat (“New Life”), and the Kara Toprak (Black Earth) for piano, Op. 8. These techniques “extend” the traditional sound of the piano and are frequently used in modern and contemporary music. Say put his hand inside the piano to dampen specific strings or swept his fingers along the strings to create an array of sounds—both of which give the music a variety of mystical qualities. The Yeni Hayat sonata features delightful melodic fragments that evoke a constellation of colors. In his Four Ballades and Black Earth, Say’s balance of rhythmic vitality and tunefulness, woven into a web of richly kaleidoscopic harmonies, makes for heartfelt and introspective music.
At the end of the concert, the audience rose to give a standing ovation. Say performed two encores. The first was his delightful, improvisatory arrangement of George Gershwin’s Summertime, from Porgy and Bess, which began in a relaxed and melodious way, building up to moments of virtuosity while showcasing Say’s playful jazzy sensibilities. The second encore was Say’s entertaining, ragtime-infused arrangement of the famous Rondò alla Turca (“Turkish March”) from the third movement of Mozart’s Piano Sonata No. 11. The crowd went wild at the end, with rapturous cheers and applause, capping a rousing evening of dynamic pianism.
Fazıl Say’s latest album, on the Alpha label with violinist Patricia Kopatchinskaja, was released in 2023 and features sonatas by Bartók, Janáček, and Brahms.
To hear recordings and see where Say is touring next, visit fazilsay.com.
