Sarband

The Waltz
Travels from Viennese Waltz Ecstasy
to the Mysticism of the Whirling Dervishes in Constantinople

Sarband: The Waltz

In worldwide
collaboration
with orchestras

Starting from the ongoing fertile collaboration
with the orchestra «Concerto Köln»
on stage and on CDs
(«Deream of the Orient» & «The Waltz»,
Deutsche Grammophon, Echo Klassik Awards 2003 & 2006),
Sarband created several new versions of this topic
and performed them together
with several orchestras.


 

The light has not always shone only from the East to the West: 
In the early 19th century, many important Western influences
were assimilated into Turkish culture. 

Sarband address the certainly most «swinging» adaptation:
Many of the Ottoman-Turkish Sultans had since the 16th century enthusiastically admired European music.
With the turn of the 19th century however, 
Turkish musicians themselves started to compose dances inspired by the
European waltz craze. In contrast to the brisk Western waltzes, Turkish composers often transferred the triple meter 
into a
more solemn tempo and understood it as a basis for profound, even religious works. 
As a part of the ritual of the
Whirling Dervishes, the European waltz found its way into Muslim mysticism.

With Beethoven's «German Dances» and Mozarts «Six German Dances … with Turkish Music», 
early waltzes by Pamer and
Lanner, but also with the mystically swaying waltzes by Dede Efendi, 
Sarband invites on a truly swinging journey between
Orient and Occident. The mysticism of the music for the ritual of the Whirling Dervishes 
and the exuberant ecstasy o
f Beethoven's dance compositions 
give us a renewed understanding of the swinging triple meter's essence beyond all
cultural differences: 
suspension of linear time, standing still while turning, the universal meaning of the triple meter 
as time
forever trapped in a cyclical movement - 
in the most worldly kind of entertainment and in
a spiritual, cosmic experience likewise.

download dossier

 


Reviews

«Sarband in the most delightful musical contention with Ensemble Resonanz … 
On a second stage to the side,
two whirling dervishes created an impressive contrast 
to the virtuoso artistry of Catolina Aguero and Yaroslav Ivanenko's
couple dancing.
 An entertaining and witty opening of the two very different cultures to each other … » 

Jürgen Gahre, Bonner Generalanzeiger (Germany), 01.08.2009

«Concerto Köln and Sarband built a bridge on the stage of the Festspielhaus in Bregenz, a strong bridge 
between
Orient & Occident.» Vorarlberg Online (Austria), 18.05.2006

«You can literally see the envoys' stagecoaches rattle back and forth between Vienna and Istanbul, 
so skillfully interlaced
are the compositions from both cultures … 
These different characters are excellently underlined by the two ensembles.» 

Anja-Rosa Thöming, FAZ (Germany), 03.12.2005

«This is a fascinating recital, in which Concerto Köln's period instruments join with the Turkish ensemble Sarband and
the haunting voice of Mustafa Doğan Dikmen 
in pursuit of links between the western waltz and Turkish music.»
Stephen Pettitt, Sunday Times (USA), 19.6.2005

 

 

Watch

The Waltz
7-2009 Musiktage Hitzacker
Sarband & Ensemble Resonanz



Listen

Dede E.: «Yine bir guel»
CD The Waltz
1:59
Live 6-2011:
Sarband & Bochumer Symphoniker
4:30