Symphony: Dedicated to Aziz Nesin

UPDATE Due to the bomb attack in Ankara on the evening of March 14, our concert, which was announced to be held on March 19, was postponed to April 5, 2016 and held at TRT Ankara Radio. 

We are sharing the article written by Can Aksel Akın for his work performed at this concert on the İleri Haber website:

Symphony Dedicated to Aziz Nesin

Those who know me know that the lines they are reading are actually written by a composer. I write music articles because of the needs and shortcomings I see... Today I have an unusual article. For the first time I have to write about my own work. Mostly every work is special for its creator. This work is also a very special work for me. That's why I decided to share it with you, my dear readers

The world premiere of this precious first performance will take place in Ankara. On March 19, at 19.00, the Hacettepe Symphony Orchestra and Saygun Philharmonic Choir will perform under the direction of conductor Burak Tüzün at Hacettepe University Sıhhıye Campus Hall M.  The program will not only include my symphony. Yeliz Özkaya on viola and Kerem Ekber on cello will perform Hoffmeister's “Viola Concerto” and Tchaikovsky's “Variations on a Rococo Theme op. 33”. Sayfun Philharmonic Choir will be conducted by Çiğdem Aytepe and Atilla Çağdaş Değer.

Apart from its musical aspect, the symphony is important in the following respect. It was composed in dedication to Aziz Nesin. The first part of the work is titled “Free”, the second part is titled “Yaşar”. The last part is about the Sivas Massacre, which caused a unique pain in the history of our country and the world. The poem “Sivas Pain” written by our master writer Aziz Nesin is his literary description of the great tragedy and atrocity he experienced exactly one year before his death. “Sivas Pain” is also the title of this section. A choir sings this section at the end of the work

Last night I attended the choir rehearsal for the first time. The precious choristers of the Saygun Philharmonic Choir put on a great performance. I had the chance to accompany the choir on the piano under the direction of their conductor Çiğdem Hoca. Such subtle musical nuances were emphasized to support the lyrics of the song and the meaning of the poem that the meaning in the poem was further enhanced by the music. It is as if what is not expressed in words is also sung. In our country, a work performed by a choir with so much feeling is really rare. The fact that about 60 choristers shared the same feelings and were able to convey them was extraordinary for me as the composer. I couldn't get out of the music for hours, they have a very powerful interpretation. It is a work with more emotion than a sentimental aria or a sad lied in Italian opera. I think the music with its constant ebb and flow will overshadow the other parts. Unfortunately, the emotional ebbs and flows in the music do not have an outcome, in other words, there is no victor, just like a labyrinth that cannot be navigated out of. However, the path of enlightenment shown by Aziz Nesin and other intellectuals is clear.

In fact, I started composing the piece in 2012. During this period, the “Jose Marti Cuban Friendship Association” was active and organized two major concerts in Bursa. The Bursa Regional State Symphony Orchestra (BBDSO), under the direction of conductor İbrahim Yazıcı, successfully performed the first part of the work, “Free”, twice. It bears the subtitle “In tribute to the people of Cuba who have resisted under blockade for 50 years”. I have wanted to continue this work for a long time. I do not find Aziz Nesin and the struggle of the enlightened Cuban people, who have resisted and made great achievements in the fields of health and humanity, distant. The second movement, “Yaşar”, is a reference to Aziz Nesin's famous radio play, theater piece and novel, “Yaşar Ne Yaşar Ne Yaşamaz”.

I am against composers restricting the freedom of the audience to view their works from a certain perspective by narrating them, but this could not be the case for this particular work. Our country lost its intellectuals and an important part of its heart in Sivas. This movement is a requiem and in itself stands out from the other movements of the symphony. The emotions that can be abstractly visualized in the inner world of the listener in the first two movements echo into eternity with the addition of the world of words in the last movement. Hope should not be lost, but the work will make you think.

By the way, there is another choir that contributed to the creation of the work. Last year, on the anniversary of the Sivas Massacre, I also remember with gratitude the Muzaffer Arkan Girls Choir, who performed the work for the first time with choir and piano accompaniment on their Italian tour, again under the direction of conductor Çiğdem Aytepe and accompanied by pianist Bora Ateşyakan.

Thank you Aziz Nesin, thank you for the bright legacy you left to this country...

— Can Aksel Akın