Dr. Aydin Karlibel
İdil Biret’s legacy remains closely affiliated with the musical reforms of the Turkish Republic. Her concerts and solo recitals that I attended in Istanbul were felicitous, extraordinary musical events that shaped my thinking as a composer and my artistry as a pianist. Her live performances of the complete Beethoven sonatas cycle, in seven evening performances, at the San Theatre Hall and Maçka Maden Hall, her complete Book One of The Well-Tempered Clavierrecital at St. Irene, and her exquisite live interpretations of Chopin, Rachmaninoff, Schumann, Franck, and Brahms left an indelible impression on my musical imagination.¹
My first impressions of İdil Biret came through the children’s magazine Doğan Kardeş published in the 1960s. She was portrayed as a wonder child in Paris. She grew up there supported by “İdil’s Law,” a special act of the Turkish parliament—passed when she was seven, following an impromptu performance before then President İsmet İnönü and his guests—that enabled her to study at the Conservatoire under Nadia Boulanger. Her first public concert, at the age of eight, was a broadcast by Paris Radio. Such achievements were well reported in the press, including the truly historic concert in February 1953, when she played Mozart’s Two-Piano Concerto in Paris with Wilhelm Kempff at age eleven before an audience of 2,400. As a young child she was already a cultural hero.
My first meeting with Mrs. Biret was two decades after her performance with Kempff, in 1974, in the Philharmonic Society Hall in Teşvikiye,² where I was introduced to her by my teacher Cemal Reşit Rey.³ She was a rising star of classical piano, a soloist performing with the major symphonies.⁴ I was a teenage admirer, so I was delighted Mr. Rey mentioned my precocious composition for piano entitled “Aquaphonie,” inspired by sounds of water. Later in that hall, the seventy-year-old master Rey performed Fauré’s Dolly Suite⁵ with Ms. Biret on the Society’s Steinway grand, playing four hands, prima vista.
Rey and Biret frequently collaborated. Ms. Biret was soloist for the world premiere of Rey’s Variations on an Old Istanbul Folksong (Kâtibim Variations)⁶ in Vienna with the Tonkünstler Orchestra, directed by the composer, on 25 November 1965. A large-scale concerto infused with a merry popular Turkish folksong, the melody was originally imported to Istanbul during the Crimean War by Scottish soldiers. The composer had heard a hotel pianist improvise on this tune during one of his concert tours in Germany and was subsequently asked by his cousin to compose a concerto on this melody. The work is dedicated to Samson François,⁷ who had earlier been soloist with and guest of Rey in Istanbul. The première in Vienna was met with fanfare by the Austrian press, and the following remark was noted by Rey himself: “Die Türken diesmal um Wien!” (“The Turks have now conquered Vienna!”).⁸
Following the premiere in Vienna, Ms. Biret performed this work in Bucharest and Cluj again with the composer conducting, and in Paris with the Orchestre National with Jean-Louis Fourestier conducting. Ms. Biret’s sparkling interpretation of Kâtibim Variations with the Bavarian Radio Orchestra in Munich in 1981, with Hikmet Şimşek conducting, is found in the album Best of Turkish Piano Music, widely available on Spotify, Apple, and Amazon. A student at Robert College at the time, I was the celesta player in the 1968 Kâtibim Variations Istanbul premiere.
In 1996, I performed with Ms. Biret at Istanbul’s Cemal Reşit Rey Concert Hall, the first concert hall in Turkey designed for classical music, constructed in 1989 and named to honor one of our greatest composers. The program included three movements from his Twelve Preludes and Fugues. We also performed my arrangement for two pianos of Rey’s Tenth Anniversary March of the Republic (1933). The steady rhythms and rich chords of this piece reflect the pride of the Turkish people in their new nation.
Mrs. Biret excels as a Liszt interpreter; she recorded the complete Beethoven–Liszt Symphonies, performed in Montpellier. Her Rachmaninoff interpretations are unsurpassed. I attended her Süreyya Hall appearance, performing Liszt preludes after a lecture by Gottfried Wagner, grandson of Richard Wagner; duo performances with Michael Ponti (Rachmaninoff and Arensky) in AKM Hall; with Stéphane Blet¹⁰ (Liszt’s “Mazeppa”)¹¹ in Fulya; and the Berlioz–Liszt Harold en Italie performance with Ruşen Güneş in Süreyya Hall—all extraordinary achievements. Her solo recital in Rumeli Hisarı where she played Rachmaninoff was fascinating. Ms. Biret’s performances of André Boucourechliev’s Archipel in the San Theatre were impressive.¹² Sight-reading from a large map-scale score, she exquisitely took full advantage of this composition’s exploration of choice and freedom on the part of the performer.
Throughout her career, İdil Biret has always been generous with her support of other musicians. She organized a collective charity concert to raise money for Vedat Kosal’s tragic operation (“Twelve Pianists Hand in Hand”).¹³ The outstanding musician had often been a guest at Biret’s home in Brussels. In 1973, the fiftieth anniversary of the Turkish Republic, after a memorable concert given by İdil Biret performing a Mozart concerto with Aaron Copland in Ankara, a notable meeting took place in Istanbul in Vedat Kosal’s apartment in Şişli, uniting Cemal Reşit Rey, Aaron Copland, and İdil Biret. In honor of Copland, pianists Vedat Kosal and Seher Tanrıyar performed excerpts from Rey’s Twelve Preludes and Fugues on two pianos.
Ms. Biret’s generosity also extended to me. I felt honored by her support on many occasions. She kindly provided her written opinion on my transcription of Mozart’s Symphony No. 40 in G minor (recorded on the CD album Transcriptions and Original Works, Kalan Music, 2007). Scores of Turkish musicians also benefitted from her experience and unselfish love for music and musicians.
İdil Biret has certainly been a major force in the development of classical music in Turkey. With her musical ability, deep intelligence, and warm heart, she is widely loved and admired. She and her husband, Şefik Büyükyüksel, hosted annual New Year’s Eve gatherings at their home in Moda. There, we played improvisations with Mrs. Biret on two pianos. Distinguished guests included diplomats, authors, musicians, and historians. Among many others, they welcomed Angelika Akbar, Rahşan Apay, Halil Berktay, Reşit and Evren Büyükburçlu Erol, Ayla Erduran, Murat Gürol, Ruşen Güneş, Evin İlyasoğlu, Çetin Işıközlü, Erhan Karaesmen, the late Cahit Kayra, Ayfer Neyzi, Leyla Pamir, Ateş Pars, Nejat and Ayşe Gül Sarıca, Fazıl Say, Pars Tuğlacı, and Judith Uluğ.¹⁴
Preparations are underway to inaugurate the İdil Biret Foundation, a center for study and research for young artists in Teşvikiye, Istanbul. I would like hereby to reiterate, with deepest admiration, our collective thanks to İdil Biret and to Şefik Büyükyüksel for their tireless efforts supporting the sublime and glorious art of classical music.
Names referenced:
• Angelika Akbar (b. 1969), composer/pianist.
• Rahşan Apay (b. 1976?), Turkish cellist.
• Evren Büyükburç Erol (b. 1978), pianist and professor, Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University State Conservatory.
• Ayla Erduran (b. 1934), Turkish violinist, student of David Oistrakh.
• Murat Gürol (b. 1956), Turkish violinist and arts administrator.
• Ruşen Güneş (1940–2020), Turkish violist, former member of the London String Quartet.
• Cengiz Tanç (1933–1997), composer.
• Yalçın Tura (b. 1934), composer, noted for film scores.
• Evin İlyasoğlu, music writer, lecturer, producer, and critic.
• Çetin Işıközlü (b. 1939), composer and conductor.
• Erhan Karaesmen (1936–2024), professor, author of A Holistic View of Beethoven.
• Cahit Kayra (1917–2021), MP and government minister.
• Ayfer Neyzi (b. 1931?), researcher and collector of Ottoman cultural artifacts.
• Leyla Pamir (1930–2023), musicologist.
• Ateş Pars (b. 1942), composer.
• Ayşe Gül Sarıca (1935–2023), pianist.
• Pars Tuğlacı (1933–2014), historian.
• Judith Uluğ (b. 1940), pianist.
