Erkin: Symphony No. 2, Violin Concerto, Köçekçe

Album review

Ulvi Cemal Erkin was sent in the 1920s by the government of the young Republic of Turkey to study and master Western styles. He did well enough to attract Nadia Boulanger as a teacher, and this group of pieces succeeds quite a bit better than you might expect. The "dance rhapsody" Köçekçe (1943) is quite colorful and maintains a hold in the orchestral repertory. The Symphony No. 2 embeds folk tunes (many compiled by Erkin himself) in larger structures. Perhaps the highlight is the passionately romantic Violin Concerto of 1946-1947, which is nationalistic in a different way: it employs lots of pentatonic melody and formal devices borrowed from Turkish music, but little of the explicitly folkloric material of Köçekçe. The finale uses the improvisatory form of the taksim (sample Allegro con Fuoco for a taste of Erkin's unique fusion of Eastern and Western elements). The players are a mix of East and West: the Istanbul State Symphony Orchestra under Theodore Kuchar is up to international standards and obviously knows the music well, and violinist James Buswell offers a requisitely lush reading of the Violin Concerto. Recommended for anyone interested in the development of classical music outside its traditional Western homes.

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