Works for Clarinet and Piano by Turkish Composers
This Turkish Recital album, by a long-time musician but a first-time CD producer, has been a very exciting, enjoyable, and meaningful project for me, as I took it from early planning to rehearsals and final recording of performances.
How did I start on this Turkish Recital endeavour?
I dreamt of this program since my student days at Ankara State Conservatory.
Then, I would play Adnan Saygun’s ‘’Horon for Clarinet and Piano’’ which I found on the Conservatory Library shelves and kept in my cabinet among Western Classical Music scores and ask myself: Why aren’t the works of our national composers played more in recitals and included in programs? Do our composers have other works for clarinet and piano that I haven’t come across yet? I carried these thoughts with me for years.
The idea of preparing a concert program consisting of works of Turkish composers arose from a simple request by Herman Braune, a Dutch clarinettist and educator. During one of our train trips he asked me whether I would want to plan a clarinet recital consisting of works of Turkish composers. I immediately responded, ‘of course.
Unfortunately, at that time, I did not have enough readily available works for putting together a dedicated program. I had to do research and reach out for works of our contemporary composers to prepare a selected program consisting of only clarinet and piano pieces. At the end of my research over several years, I had a rich collection extending from “The Turkish Five” to contemporary composers. I had the opportunity to personally meet and work together with several Turkish composers, some even participated at rehearsals. Meliha Doğuduyal and Evrim Demirel, two of the contemporary Turkish composers, composed pieces especially for this project. Premiere performances of these works have been presented in our special concerts.
I hope that the Turkish Recital album will be a source of inspiration and I am deeply grateful to all who supported and laboured with me on this project.
Emirhan Tuğa
More information about this project:
Listen the album: Turkish Recital
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