Uploaded October 2024 | Updated September 2026, 4 days ago
00:03 I. Allegro
09:26 II. Adagio
19:21 III. Allegretto
22:35 IV. Allegro assai
Deutsche Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz (German State Philharmonic of Rhineland-Palatinate) conducted by Ari Rasilainen
Ahmet Adnan Saygun (1907-1991) was a Turkish composer, the most famous of the "Turkish Five" who combined the Western classical tradition with Turkish folk music. During Saygun's lifetime, his work was widely performed across Turkey, Europe, and North America by leading ensembles like the NBC Symphony, Vienna Philharmonic, and Juilliard String Quartet. Read more about Saygun on my blog: unknowncomposers.org/2020/08/15/ahmet-adnan-saygun-a-pioneer-who-brought-together-romanticism-western-modernism-and-turkish-folk-song
If you've heard my score video of his first string quartet (linked here: youtube.com/watch?v=HQGbav4YxGA), you might recognize many of the same themes being recycled here; indeed, that string quartet was written six years prior in 1947. However, Saygun develops the themes in his first symphony in a rather different and often more focused direction, incorporating the significantly greater resources at his disposal in orchestral writing. The symphony also differs somewhat in character from his later orchestral and concerto works, with only glimpses of the sprawling form and explosive orchestration Saygun would often employ in the decades to come.
00:03 I. Allegro
09:26 II. Adagio
19:21 III. Allegretto
22:35 IV. Allegro assai
Deutsche Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz (German State Philharmonic of Rhineland-Palatinate) conducted by Ari Rasilainen
Ahmet Adnan Saygun (1907-1991) was a Turkish composer, the most famous of the "Turkish Five" who combined the Western classical tradition with Turkish folk music. During Saygun's lifetime, his work was widely performed across Turkey, Europe, and North America by leading ensembles like the NBC Symphony, Vienna Philharmonic, and Juilliard String Quartet. Read more about Saygun on my blog: unknowncomposers.org/2020/08/15/ahmet-adnan-saygun-a-pioneer-who-brought-together-romanticism-western-modernism-and-turkish-folk-song
If you've heard my score video of his first string quartet (linked here: youtube.com/watch?v=HQGbav4YxGA), you might recognize many of the same themes being recycled here; indeed, that string quartet was written six years prior in 1947. However, Saygun develops the themes in his first symphony in a rather different and often more focused direction, incorporating the significantly greater resources at his disposal in orchestral writing. The symphony also differs somewhat in character from his later orchestral and concerto works, with only glimpses of the sprawling form and explosive orchestration Saygun would often employ in the decades to come.
