Amsterdam Sinfonietta with Fazil Say by Say, Mozart, Silvestrov, Schnittke, Od (2024/2024), Dirigent Candida Thompson, TivoliVredenburg, Utrecht, Netherlands

In a beautifully balanced program, the idiosyncratic Turkish pianist Fazil Say brings together his own compositions and works by Mozart with Amsterdam Sinfonietta in a "Say-Mozart-Suite. Fazil Say and Mozart 'You absolutely must hear him, he plays like the devil,' composer Aribert Reimann said of the then 16-year-old Turkish pianist Fazil Say. Still his playing can be devilish when he plays Liszt or Rachmaninov, for example, but in his love for Mozart, his refined playing is also extremely refined. He already showed this love in his ECHO Klassik award-winning recording of Mozart's piano sonatas. In recent years, Fazil Say has also profiled himself as a successful composer. In this special concert he brings together with Amsterdam Sinfonietta, the pianist Say, the composer Say and Mozart into a wonderful program that could be described as a 'Say-Mozart-Suite'. Depth and humor The whole is a carefully composed alternation of Say's own compositions, music by Mozart and a few works by other composers. Depth is felt in Silvestrov's The Messenger with a hint of Mozart here and there, Mozart's own dark Fantasy, but also in Say's New Life Sonata, composed during the lockdown. Relaxation is found in Mozart's other works for strings. Downright humorous is Schnittke's absurdist collage Moz-Art à la Haydn and Say's ragtime version of Mozart's Rondo alla Turca. Finally, a work by Say in which the pianist stays close to his Turkish roots. Yürüyen Köşk for piano and strings is an impressive ode to Atatürk, the founder of the modern Turkish state.