Sinan Savaskan
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Sinan Carter Savaskan, born 1954, is a noted composer of contemporary classical music. He works and lives in London, England, where he is also head of academic music at Westminster School. There he has instituted an energetic new music programme and taught many gifted composers and instrumentalists. Savaskan is a singular figure on the new music scene. His music employs highly personal pitch-time structuring methods, derived from notions of spatial perspective and architecture. This pitch-time technique was first displayed in his chamber works 'Many Stares Through Semi-Nocturnal Zeiss Blink' (1979) and 'Antedonia' (1980). The basis of the technique is the gradual circular rotation of pitch-classes moving at different speeds simultaneously; this rotation can be effected chromatically, micro-chromatically or through glissandi, or any combination of these. Since each rotating pitch-class may also be transposed through octave dispacement, the resultant harmonic implications of three or more parts rotating in different directions at separate speeds can be quite complex and rich. 'Nodal' points are reached when two or more parts reach either a pure unison, or an octave, or some other simple consonance such as a perfect fifth, and these lend his music an unexpectedly clear sense of cadence at crucial structural points. In some pieces, such as the string quartet 'Speed/1969' (1986) the natural overtones of a rotating pitch may also be incorporated into the work's harmony. In others, such as the saxophone quartet 'The Street' (1982) the pitch-construction may incorporate elements from pre-existent popular or traditional musics.
Savaskan's first mature works were relatively strict in their applications of his pitch-time structuring methods. Since 1986, however, his music has exhibited greater surface exuberance and diversity, whilst not abandoning the conscientious structuring of earlier works. The first piece to demonstrate this new direction was 'Panic in Needle Park', for string quartet and electronics, which is rhythmically propulsive and melodically more direct than anything he had previously composed. The Second Symphony 'Age of Analysis' (1997-8), premiered by the BBC Symphony Orchestra for Radio 3, is another work of this type. An impressive fusion of Savaskan's harmonic method with conventional symphonic form, this work proceeds from a relatively neutral starting point of gradual harmonic change to a tumultuous finale in which elements of traditional, possibly Turkish dance rhythms and other extraneous melodic-harmonic elements are joyously integrated into a continuously evolving form. As Savaskan's harmonic method arrives at a concluding 'nodal' point, the music ends flamboyantly with a definite sense of cadence in to the home pitch-class, E. The BBC selected this work as one of its entires in the 1999 Unesco International Rostrum of Composers. There have been other symphonies since then, and a powerful chamber work 'Unique strands, circular functions and Portofino', which was warmly reviewed at its London premiere in 2001. Savaskan's music has been programmed widely by organisations and ensembles such as the ICA, London (in particular its fine 'MusICA' series run for many years by Adrian Jack), the BBC, Lontano, the Balanescu String Quartet, the Smith Quartet, the S.E.M. Orchestra of New York, and such conductors as Martyn Brabbins, Zsolt Nagy and Peter Kotik.
He is a member of the Executive Committee of the British Academy of Composers and Songwriters, and a composer member of the PRS/MCPS, London.
