Search - Bezmara :: Turkey: Splendours Of Topkapi

Music from a Golden Age

John Monroe | Ames, IA, USA | 03/24/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This wonderful record is an attempt to recreate the court music of the Ottoman Empire, as it would have sounded in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The music's a little strange to the Western ear, at least at first. Most strikingly, all the tuned instruments play in unison -- what you listen for is how the melody develops and how it relates to the rhythmic cycle (called an usul) played by the drums. The compositions on this recording come from a collection notated and published in the late seventeenth century by Dmitrie Cantemir, a Moldavian Prince and scholar. The instruments the musicians use, most of which haven't been played for centuries, had to be reconstructed from paintings and old treatises on music, which makes this a kind of Turkish equivalent to "period instrument" recordings of Western classical music. In both cases, the players not only use original instruments, they try to reconstruct the original way the music was played -- giving a fresh, revitalizing perspective on it in the process. We're a long way from the bland recordings of "official" Turkish classical ensembles, which tend to flatten out the subtleties of rhythm and intonation that make this music so interesting. The melodies featured on this recording are fantastically beautiful, as is the sound (the record was made in the hall of the vizirs at Topkapi Palace in Istanbul, the place where these compositions were probably first performed); the music has a wonderful, majestic, dancing quality that makes it a joy to hear. If you want to discover what Ottoman music is all about, this is the recording to buy."

A worthy effort

just someone | 08/19/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Bezmara is a special project that was established by Turkish music scholars trying to revive early ottoman music that is near extinct in application. They built some music instruments of that time period based on paintings and poems. And as a result, some of the equipments they use are the only example in being currently. I believe their's to be a life-time project, for they produced two more albums with the same concept (""Mecmua"dan saz ve soz" and "yitik sesin pesinde" though those two are not fully instrumental like Splendours of Topkapi) (not in sale in Amazon by the way). The songs in them are mostly of Dimitrie Cantemir and they are both very good albums - like this one. Relaxing, captivating, interesting and beautiful - if you like listening to a different type of music. I enjoyed them all greatly and hope that they continue to unearth that nearly forgotten archive. I am looking forward to their newest album - whenever it will be ready...



I especially like to listen their albums when I am mindwise very busy and need to relax - and as a background music while working. It helps a lot."