Franghiz Ali-Zadeh
Ali-Zadeh in 2021
Born
Franghiz Ali Aga Kïzï Ali-Zadeh

(1947-05-29)29 May 1947
Baku, Azerbaijan SSR, USSR
Occupations
  • Composer
  • pianist

Franghiz Ali Aga Kïzï Ali-Zadeh[n 1] (born 29 May 1947) is an Azerbaijani composer and pianist of contemporary classical music. Her music synthesizes Western classical modernist techniques with the Azerbaijani mugham art music. Among her better known works are the chamber piece Gabil Sajahy (1979) for cello and piano, as well as the ballet Empty Cradle (1993); she has also written instrumental, vocal and film music.[2]

Life and career

Early life and education

Franghiz Ali Aga Kïzï Ali-Zadeh was born on 29 May 1947 in Baku, then in the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic of the USSR.[3] Although her family was not particularly musical, her father—an oil engineer—occasionally played the tar, a traditional string instrument of Central Asia.[1] Early in her early childhood, Ali-Zadeh developed an interest in music and at age five her family bought a piano.[1] She began composition a few years later, studying the discipline under Adila Huseinzade.[1]

From 1954 to 1965 Ali-Zadeh attended Azerbaijan State Conservatory's youth music school; later she studied at the conservatory in composition under Gara Garayev (graduated 1972) and piano under Ulfan Khalilov (graduated 1970).[3] At the conservatory, she became an assistant to Karayev (1970–76) and was later in postgraduate track with him (1974–76).[3] She was awarded the Composers Union of Azerbaijan award in 1980.[4] After becoming an assistant professor there (1976–89),[3] Ali-Zadeh wrote her doctoral dissertation, "Orchestration in Works by Azerbaijani Composers" (1989) for a Doctor of Music.[1] She became a full professor of the conservatory from 1996 onwards.[3]

Career and later life

Ali-Zadeh (left) beside the architect Elbay Gasimzade (center), at an Arts meeting with the president of Azerbaijan

Through her piano performances, Ali-Zadeh has promoted the music of various contemporary classical composers, particularly Russians.[2] Throughout the 1960s and 70s, she gave the Azerbaijani premieres of compositions by Russian-Soviet composers such as Edison Denisov, Sofia Gubaidulina and Alfred Schnittke, as well as Europeans such as Alban Berg, John Cage, George Crumb, Olivier Messiaen and Arnold Schoenberg.[3] Ali-Zadeh has frequent music festivals of the former USSR and was elected as a member of the Schoenberg Institute of Los Angeles in 1988.[3] She moved to Turkey in 1992.[2] In the late 1990s she moved to Berlin, Germany,[1] but now spends her time between there and Baku.[5]

Ali-Zadeh became the first women composer-in-residence of the Lucerne Festival in August 1999.[3] She was also composer-in-residence for the Beethoven Orchester of Bonn in both 2001 and 2003.[3] Among her awards are the People's Artiste of Azerbaijan (2008).[3] Since 2008, she has been a UNESCO Artist for Peace, particularly in service of the organization's Children's education program.[6] She is also the artistic director of the International World of Mugham Festival.[7]

Her works have been performed by Yo-Yo Ma and Hilary Hahn, among others. The Kronos Quartet in particular have championed her music.[8][5]

Music

"It is impossible to make music if you ignore your feelings and just play the notes you see printed on a score. Music is something you must feel deeply. Having the ability to really feel music is like possessing a secret—a secret emotion, a secret understanding, a secret of music"

– Ali-Zadeh[9]

She is best known for her works that combine the musical tradition of the Azerbaijani mugham and 20th century Western compositional techniques, especially those of Arnold Schoenberg and Gara Garayev.[10] This synthesis-style began in the 1970s, prior to which she primarily engaged with soly Western European modernism.[11]

Among her compositions is the opera Karabakhname (2007). Ali-Zadeh's works were long published by Hans Sikorski,[12] now a part of Boosey & Hawkes.[13]

List of compositions

Selective list

List of compositions by Franghiz Ali-Zadeh[14]
Title Year Genre

Dramatic

Legenda o belom vsadnike
[The Legend of the White Horseman]		 1985
unpubd		 Rock opera
1 Act
Empty Cradle 1993 Ballet
2 Acts
Stadt Graniza 2001 Ballet
2 Acts

Instrumental

Piano Sonata No. 1
("In Memoriam Alban Berg")		 1970
unpubd		 Solo piano
Piano concerto 1972
unpubd		 Concertante
String Quartet No. 1 1974
unpubd		 Chamber
str qt
Symphony 1976
unpubd		 Orchestral
Zu den Kindertotenlieder
("In Memoriam Gustav Mahler")		 1977 Chamber
cl. vn. perc.
Gabil-Sajahy 1979 Chamber
vc prep pf
Fantasy 1982 Organ
Partita 1985 Organ
Travermusik
("In memoriam Kara Karaev")		 1986
unpubd		 Chamber ensemble
Dilogia I 1988 Chamber
str qt
Music for Piano 1989/97
unpubd		 Solo piano
Dilogia II 1989–94
unpubd		 Chamber
str qrt, wind qnt
Piano Sonata No. 2 1990 Solo piano
Crossing I 1991 Chamber
cl, vib/cel
Crossing II 1992–3 Chamber
large ensemble
Mugam-Sajahy 1993 Chamber
str qt, synth/tape
Fantasie 1994 Solo guitar
String Quartet No. 3 1995
unpubd		 Chamber
str qt
Azerbaijani Pastoral 1998 Chamber
2 gui, fl, perc
Mirage 1998 Chamber
ud, large ensemble
String Quartet No. 4
"Oasis"		 1998
unpubd		 Chamber
str qt
Sturm und Drang 1998 Chamber
large ensemble
Aşk havasi 1998 Solo cello
Silk Road
Percussion concerto		 1999 Concertante
perc, chamber ensemble
Apsheron quintet 2001 Chamber
prepared pf, str qt
Marimba Concerto 2001 Concertante
mar, str ens
Cello Concerto
"Mersiye		 2002 Concertante
Vc, chamber ensemble
Naġillar
[Fairy Tales]		 2002 Orchestral
Shyshtar 2002 Chamber
12 cellos
Counteractions 2002–03 Chamber
vc, bayan/accdn
Sabah
[Tomorrow]		 2003 Chamber
vn, vc, pipa, prepared pf

Vocal

Deyshime 2001 Chamber
2 voices, 2 hp, tape

Selected recordings

Selected recordings of compositions by Franghiz Ali-Zadeh
Year Composition Album Performers Label
1994 Mugam Sayagi Night Prayers Kronos Quartet Nonesuch 9 79346-2
1997 Various Crossings: Music by Frangiz Ali-Zade La Strimpellata Bern BIS BIS-CD-827
2002 Habil-Sajahy Silk Road Journey - When Strangers Meet Silk Road Ensemble Sony Classical SS 89782
2005 Various Mugam Sayagi: Music of Franghiz Ali-Zadeh Kronos Quartet Nonesuch PRCD 301479
2006 Aşk Havasi Giacinto Scelsi; Frangis Ali-Sade Jessica Kuhn Thorofon CTH 2480
2014 Impulse In 27 Pieces: the Hilary Hahn Encores Hilary Hahn Deutsche Grammophon 479 1725
2014 Various Ali-Zadeh: Chamber Music for Cello Konstantin Manaev Classic Clips CLCL109

References

Notes

  1. ↑ Azerbaijani: Firəngiz Əlizadə. Alternative transliterations include: Firangiz Alizade,[1] Frangis, Frangiz, Franguiz; Ali-Sade, Ali-Zade and Alizade.

Citations

Sources

Books
  • Manulkina, Olga (1995). "Ali-Zadeh, Franghiz". In Sadie, Julie Anne; Samuel, Rhian (eds.). The Norton/Grove Dictionary of Women Composers. New York: W. W. Norton & Company. ISBN 978-0-333-51598-3.
  • Rutherford-Johnson, Tim (2017). Music after the Fall: Modern Composition and Culture since 1989. Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-28314-5. JSTOR 10.1525/j.ctv1xxxq7.
Articles
Online

Further reading

  • Neil Edmunds: Soviet Music and Society Under Lenin and Stalin (2004)
  • Inna Naroditskaya: Song From the Land of Fire: Azerbaijanian Mugam in the Soviet and Post-Soviet Periods, Routledge (2003) ISBN 0-415-94021-4
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