Mugam Sayagi: Music of Franghiz Ali-Zadeh

CML call number: CD/CLASSICAL/Ali-Zadeh
Alex Ross wrote in the New Yorker: "Franghiz Ali-Zadeh, a composer from Azerbaijan, … is a quietly substantial voice in modern music, and Kronos [Quartet] has been promoting her for more than a decade. … In rigorous and balanced forms, Ali-Zadeh fuses traditional Azerbaijani music -- in particular, the intricate improvisations of mugam -- with twentieth-century techniques, such as the avant-garde colorings of George Crumb and the instrumental deconstructions of John Cage. She alternates between reflective-static and muscular, driving moods, manipulating the tonal nuances of mugam's scales and melodic types. Kronos performed 'Mugam Sayagi' and 'Apsheron Quintet.' The composer joined them on piano in the latter piece, and also played 'Music for Piano,' for which, inspired by Cage's prepared-piano pieces, she draped a necklace over the middle strings of the piano, making it sound lutelike. This music can be heard on Kronos's recent disk 'Mugam Sayagi,' which is a gorgeous object and one of the best things the quartet has done" ("All Over the Map: The Kronos Quartet Returns to Carnegie Hall," 4/10/06).