Solace
Kormaz Can Saglam
Sono Luminus DSL-92272 (sonoluminus.com/store/solace)
The name Korkmaz Can Sağlam may not be an overly familiar one, but this up and coming Turkish pianist already has much to his credit. Born in Ankara in 1999, he was the Grand Prize winner of the 2022 Alexis Gregory Vendome Prize, having received his bachelor’s degree from the Juilliard School. While there, he was also recipient of the Ahmet Ertegün Memorial Scholarship and the Susan W. Rose Piano Fellowship. Sağlam is currently pursuing his master’s degree at the Cleveland Institute and this premiere recording, featuring works by Handel, Rachmaninoff and Turkish composer Ilayda Deniz Oguz, is worthy proof of his stature.
Handel’s six-movement Suite in D Minor (c.1720) is a set of stylized dance movements, each a musical miniature. Sağlam delivers a polished and elegant performance, from the expansive opening Prelude to the virtuosic presto finale, easily demonstrating that baroque keyboard repertoire can sound as convincing on a concert grand as it does on a harpsichord.
History has never been too kind to the Rachmaninoff Piano Sonata No.1 Op.28. Very much in the grand late romantic tradition; it was written for the composer’s tour to the U.S. in 1909, yet he never performed it in public again. Nevertheless, Sağlam approaches the score with a particular vitality, always clearly focused throughout the myriad technical complexities.
In contrast is Rachmaninoff’s lyrical In the Silence of the Secret Night, the third of his Six Romances Op.4. Of even greater dissimilarity is Bozluk, a contemporary composition by Sağlam’s friend Ilayda Deniz Oguz, where the use of prepared piano demonstrates yet another facet of Sağlam’s musical capabilities.
