Listening to Istanbul » Tolga Yayalar

Heavy Up / Heavy Down (Slim)

Seda — Sun, 13 Mar 2011 06:21:08 +0000

HeavyUp/HeavyDown is a two-disc set that includes world premiere recordings of six works written for Yesaroun’ by Jefferson Friedman/Crom-Tech, Tolga Yayalar, Curtis Hughes, Lei Liang, Bob Hasegawa, and Dominique Schafer, plus works by Iannis Xenakis, Louis Andriessen, Karlheinz Stockhausen, and John Cage.

HeavyUp
8 Songs, Crom-Tech/Jefferson Friedman
1. Ex-Prestu: Plod
2. Brammix-Q: 49 Face
3. Prux-norplexoxix
4. Elprod-11
5. You not mexiquot
6. Infilto-Ships
7. To the Pods
8. Wemcraftor: Limsniffer
9. Inflect, Tolga Yayalar
10. Dmaathen, Iannis Xenakis
11. Two-Faced, Curtis Hughes
12. Workers Union, Louis Andriessen (live recording)

HeavyDown
1. Parts for a Floating Space, Lei Liang
2. Saxophon, Karlheinz Stockhausen
3. Triplex Unity, Dominique Schafer
4. Ajax is all about attack, Robert Hasegawa
5. Ryoanji, John Cage

Listening to Istanbul

Matthias Röder — Sat, 12 Mar 2011 23:49:09 +0000

“I am listening to Istanbul, intent, with my eyes closed.” This is how Orhan Veli, the great Turkish poet of the 20th century, began his most celebrated poem about Istanbul. What Veli heard more than half a century ago was a romanticized soundscape of the oriental city at the Bosphorus: the bells of water carriers, the busy sounds of the Grand Bazaar, pigeons in the yard of a mosque, fishing nets drawn out of the water, and banging hammers of workers in the docks.

Today, at the beginning of the 21st century, the Turkish pianist Seda Röder listens to Istanbul once more; intently, with open ears and eyes for an emerging new era. What she hears in 2010 while the city bears the title of the “Cultural Capital of Europe,” are captivating and exciting sounds of a new generation of Turkish composers. Filled with energy and innovative creative force, their music represents the vivid and quickly changing atmosphere that the melting pot of Turkey radiates into the world.

In an effort to introduce this unexplored world of Turkish contemporary music to a wider international audience, the pioneer of contemporary music and Associate at Harvard University Seda Röder has commissioned six works by the most important composers from Istanbul, which she will present to the world in a series of concerts in the United States, Great Britain, and Europe.

Seda Röder, piano

Tolga Yayalar

Matthias Röder — Sun, 17 May 2009 03:33:56 +0000

Before coming to Harvard University in 2003, Tolga Yayalar studied Jazz Composition and Jazz Guitar at the Berklee College of Music. At Harvard, Tolga worked with Bernard Rands, Julian Anderson, Harrison Birtwistle, Brian Ferneyhough and Helmut Lachenmann.

As a result of his encounter with the music of Anton Webern, his first “classical” works incorporated serialist techniques with a jazz idiom. Today, Tolga’s music focuses on different systems of microtonality and reflects his interests in architecture, psychoanalysis and post-structural narratives. His music received performances by significant contemporary music players such as Ying Quartet, Orchestre National de Lorraine and Garth Knox.

Tolga Yayalar is currently an Assistant Professor at Bilkent University, Ankara.

A conversation with Tolga Yayalar

Matthias Röder — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 18:36:32 +0000

The first episode of Blackbox features a conversation with the Turkish composer Tolga Yayalar about his newest solo piano composition in the temporal gardens which he completed for “Listening to Istanbul” project and dedicated to me.

Here we talk about Tolga’s compositional intensions in this piece and about what the particular challenges in writing for piano are. In addition, I also play specific musical examples that highlight certain aspects we discuss.

Tolga and I would be more than happy to hear any comments, or answer all of your questions. Just post them as a comment on this website or email us at seda@sedaroeder.com.