13 May 2012

Ahmed Adnan Saygun (1907-1991)

From Composer of the Week, 9:00 am on 13 May 2012
Ahmed Adnan Saygun

Ahmed Adnan Saygun Photo: Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons

After the First World War, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk founded the Republic of Turkey and became its first president. He was a passionate reformer and set about realigning the new Turkey with Western democracy and culture.

Ahmed Adnan Saygun was the foremost of a group of young Turkish composers who were encouraged to study music in the West.

After the performance of his Opus 1 in Paris, one of his teachers advised him: “One can hear in your work the air of your native land. That is something you must always preserve.”

It was advice he followed unfailingly throughout his long career.

Music details:

Mozart: Die Entführung aus dem Serail – Overture [Telarc CD-80544]
Saygun: Suite for Orchestra, Op.14, 1st mvt [CPO 777 043]
Saygun: Symphony No.1, 3rd mvt [CPO 999 819]
Saygun: From Anatolia, 1st mvt [Naxos 8.570746]
Saygun: Inci’s Book, Op.10, 1st mvt [Naxos 8.570746]
Saygun: String Quartet No.1, 3rd mvt [CPO 999 923]
Saygun: Yunus Emre, 7th mvt [Ankara State Opera A91-0001]
Saygun: Symphony No.1, 1st mvt [CPO 999 819]
Saygun: Symphony No.1, 4th mvt [CPO 999 819]
Saygun: Symphony No.3, 3rd mvt [CPO 999 968]
Saygun: Etudes on Aksak Rhythms, No.5 [Albany TROY 1168]
Saygun: Yunus Emre, Final Choral [Ankara State Opera A91-0001]