Black Earth

After a dazzling start to his career, which has made him one of the world’s best-known and most popular pianists, and a run of recordings of Mozart, Bach, Gershwin and Stravinsky which have made their mark on the classical catalogue, Fazýl Say now shows us another facet of his art: his own compositions. Anyone who has attended one of Fazýl Say’s concerts has heard some of his own compositions played as encores, among them the now famous Black Earth for solo piano, based on a Turkish folksong, in which Fazýl, evoking the saz, a Turkish traditional instrument, simultaneously plays the keys and the strings inside the piano, producing an incredible sound. This Turkish pianist is also a passionate enthusiast for improvisation and jazz: ‘Art Tatum and Ravi Shankar are just as much of an inspiration to me as Bach or Beethoven,’ he likes to say. These influences are obvious in this disc’s stunning closing track, Dervish in Manhattan, recorded live at the 2000 Radio France & Montpelier Festival before an electrified audience. Contrasting traditional Sufi music and the modernity of "swing," Dervish in Manhattan dazzles with its constantly changing time signatures, rhythmic sequences, syncopations and offbeat accents.