Heerenhuyskamerconcert - Dark Fire

Dark Fire is an album by cellist Joachim Eijlander from 2020 that bridges the musical worlds of West and East. This concert is a collaboration with Turkish violinist Ceren Türkmenoglu, presenting works from Bach to Ahmed Adnan Saygun - performed on violin and cello, as well as the rebab. This bowed string instrument traveled the Silk Road over a thousand years ago and is considered a precursor to the cello.

The programme opens with Bach works, whose experimental side surprisingly aligns well with the free, improvisatory character of Eastern music. This is followed by works by Dimitrie Cantemir, who composed at the court in Istanbul while Bach held his first major position as organist in Ansbach. The middle section focuses on interwar music, born from the connection Atatürk fostered between European and Turkish composers: Béla Bartók, Ahmed Adnan Saygun, and Ekrem Zeki Ün. Both musicians also perform their own compositions, and Ceren sings two Ottoman songs, accompanied by herself and Joachim.

Ceren Türkmenoglu is a violinist, rebab player, and composer. During her PhD studies, she rescued the rebab from obscurity and restored the instrument to the concert stage. Joachim Eijlander works regularly as a cellist with dancers, visual artists, and scientists; since 2019 he has been a principal instructor at Codarts Rotterdam.

Ensemble
Joachim Eijlander - cello
Ceren Türkmenoglu - violin, rebab, vocals

Programme
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
- Selection from the Two-Part Inventions
- Allemande from Violin Partita No. 2 in D minor, BWV 1004
- Prelude and Sarabande from Cello Suite No. 2, BWV 1008

Dimitrie Cantemir (1673-1723) - Buselik Pesrev

Béla Bartók (1880-1945) - Duos for Violin and Cello

Ahmed Adnan Saygun (1906-1991) - Intermezzo from Partita for Cello

Ekrem Zeki Ün (1910-1987) - Yudumluk, solo for violin

Ceren Türkmenoglu (1989-) - Mai, for violin and cello

Sandor Veress (1907-1992)