Saygun, Suite for Orchestra, Op. 14: Ankara Kent Filarmoni Orkestrası; James Ross, conductor

Описание: Ahmet Adnan Saygun, Suite for Orchestra, Op. 14: Ankara Kent Filarmoni Orkestrası; James Ross, conductor.

I. Meşeli (Moderato) – II. Improvisation (Doğaçlama) – III. Horon (Molto vivo)

In 1936 Saygun travelled extensively in Anatolia collecting and transcribing folk songs, accompanying Bela Bartók, with whom he became life-long friends. The Suite for Orchestra, whose first two movements were written in 1937, and third in 1950, was the fruit of Saygun’s travels and creative inspiration from Bartók, who showed how folk music could generate sophisticated orchestral scores. The first performance was given by the Presidential Symphony Orchestra conducted by British conductor George Weldon in Ankara in 1951.

Meşeli and Horon (derived from the Greek ‘khoros’) are traditional dances that use irregular ‘askak’ (‘limping’) rhythms that are distinctive features of Anatolian and Balkan folk music, and of Ottoman court music. Saygun’s Meşeli uses a 2+2+2+3 meter (from the Sakarya region in the north-west?): it is inspired by the ‘Çorum halayı’ – a dance from north-central Anatolia performed by a group of men accompanied by drums and a zurna, represented by the orchestra’s cor anglais.

The Horon is a seven-beat dance from the Black Sea region around Trabzon, played traditionally with a kemençe – a three-stringed instrument tuned in fourths, placed under the chest and played with fingernails using an underhand bow. In between these fast movements, the Improvisation is based on the Zeybek – an Aegean and western Anatolian folk dance that embodies a man’s courage protecting his people. The dancers spreads arms at shoulder level, with hands in line with the head, and move slowly, taking large steps. (James Ross)