Kumru Ballad Fazıl Say

Kumru’ Ballade by the amazing Turkish pianist/composer Fazıl Say.

Fazıl wrote this ballade for her daughter. He usually plays this piece on the piano himself but this orchestral version is also a pleasure to listen to.

I also strongly recommend you to check out his last symphony named UNIVERSE.

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Fazıl Say wrote his first piece – a piano sonata – as early as 1984, at the age of fourteen, when he was a student at the Conservatory of his home town Ankara. –Source

Fazil Say is not merely a pianist of genius; undoubtedly he will be one of the greatest artists of the twenty-first century. (Le Figaro, Paris)

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See more at Fazıl Say’s website: fazilsay.com 

In addition to the modern European instrumentarium, Say also makes frequent and deliberate use in these compositions of instruments from his native Turkey, including kudüm and darbuka drums and the ney reed flute. This gives the music a colouring that sets it apart from many comparable creations in this genre. In the year 2007 he aroused international interest with his Violin Concerto 1001 Nights in the Harem, which is based on the celebrated tales of the same name, but deals specifically with the fate of seven women from a harem. Since its world premiere by Patricia Kopatchinskaja, the piece has already received further performances in many international concert halls. Fazıl Say scored a further great success with his first symphony, the Istanbul Symphony, premiered in 2010 at the conclusion of his five-year residency at the Konzerthaus Dortmund. Jointly commissioned by the WDR and the Konzerthaus Dortmund in the framework of Ruhr.2010, the work constitutes a vibrant and poetic tribute to the metropolis on the Bosphorus and its millions of inhabitants. The same year saw the composition, among other pieces, of his Divorce String Quartet (based on atonal principles), and commissioned works like the Piano Concerto Nirvana Burning for the Salzburg Festival and a Trumpet Concerto for the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Festival, premiered by Gábor Boldoczki. -Quoted from Fazıl’s Site