Giorgos Batzanos' life and recordings exemplify the conflict,
experimentation and creativity that are an inherent part of 20th-century
Turkish classical music. Bacanos was a virtuoso udist and
accomplished amateur pianist of mixed Greek origin, Gypsy descent. His
instrumental compositions and takasim (improvisations) are among the
foundational works of modern Turkish classicism, and this disc provides a
fascinating, though ultimately frustrating glimpse into his work. Why "frustrating"?
The answer lies partly in the sweeping social and cultural reforms
instituted by Mustafa Kemal Atatόrk after the foundation of the secular
Republic of Turkey in 1923. Ottoman-era music was banned from concert
performance for many years; Western scales and compositional devices were
politely but insistently forced on conservatories, and the language and
landscape of Turkish culture were forever altered. And Bacanos, who worked
as a lead musician for Turkish state radio, didn't seem to care all that
much about recording contracts. The cuts on this important (though
fragmentary) anthology were assembled from rare 78s, airchecks and what
appear to be privately-made recordings.
Bacanos began avidly experimenting with Western compositional devices and
new playing techniques for the ud while still in his teens. This is
evident on his recordings from the late 1920s, where near-Listzian chromatic
runs and flamenco-style picking are balanced by his ability to recast
classical and folkloric music in a highly individual vein. But his
no-holds-barred playing on a 1940s quintet recording of "Kόrdilihicazkar
peshrev" (by Ottoman-era composer Tatyos Efendi) reveals his great affinity
for earlier classical music. Although Bacanos achieved a lasting reputation
as one of the great innovators of modern ud playing by pushing the
limits of the Turkish classical repertoire and playing technique to a
previously undreamt-of degree, in many ways he was a traditionalist in
revolutionary guise. I'd like to hear a more balanced anthology of his work
- however, due to the scarcity of extant recordings, that may be a long time
coming.
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