Mozart’s Requiem & world premiere Fazıl Say

Without a doubt, Mozart’s Requiem is one of the most sublime works in all European sacred music, whether it is heard in the cathedral or concert hall. This music is instantly affecting, and touches the audience’s hearts. This despite the fact that not all of it was composed by Mozart himself; he died while working on the piece. Nevertheless, we experience the work as an organic, well-rounded whole. Of course, many musicians cannot help speculating on what might have been, had Mozart been able to complete the work himself. The Luzerner Sinfonieorchester asked Turkish world-class pianist and composer Fazıl Say the same question: how does he respond to Mozart’s Requiem? With a very personal answer – with his own composition, in fact: ‘Mozart ve Mevlana’. He describes it as metamorphoses on themes from Mozart’s Requiem, with Requiem texts in Turkish. He also refers to the 13th-century Mevlana Rumi, whose Persian-Turkish Sufi philosophy once circulated worldwide in the form of humanist texts. Mozart, reflected in ancient Turkish Sufi philosophy: a reconciliation in music between East and West.

Without a doubt, Mozart’s Requiem is one of the most sublime works in all European sacred music, whether it is heard in cathedral or concert hall.