Fazil Say, Luzerner Sinfonieorchester & Michael Sanderling - Mozart: Requiem, K. 626 - Say: Mozart & Mevlana, Op. 110 (2025) [Hi-Res]

Mozart’s magnificent setting of the Requiem Mass needs no introduction. One of his last works and a landmark of choral music, it is paired on this album with a new and complementary work by the pianist and composer Fazıl Say: Mozart ve Mevlana.

Founded on the same forces as the Mozart Requiem and running for some 25 minutes, Mozart ve Mevlana is a setting of two poems by the 13th century Sufi poet Rumi. It was premiered in November 2024 by the performers on this album: four superb soloists – soprano Fatma Said, mezzo-soprano Marianne Crebassa, tenor Pene Pati and bass Alexandros Stavrakakis – the Rundfunkchor Berlin, the Luzerner Sinfonieorchester and conductor Michael Sanderling.

One of the world’s most widely-read poets, Rumi was born in what is now Afghanistan, but spent much of his life in the city of Konya, located some 270 kilometres south of Turkey’s modern capital Ankara – where Fazıl Say was born. Rumi’s full title in Turkish is Mevlânâ Celâleddîn-i Rûmî (‘Mevlânâ’ denotes ‘Our master’ and Rûmî signals his association with Anatolia). In Mozart ve Mevlana – which means 'Mozart and Mevlana' – Fazıl Say sets poems that were translated into Turkish from the original Persian. Championing tolerance and generosity of spirit, they are ‘Yine Gel’ (‘Come Again’ in English) and ‘Yedi Öğüt’ (‘The Seven Principles”).