The recordings have a colossal and resonant sound. It's the sort of popular audio-image one might hear in celebration of some Olympic auditorium event - subtle and local it ain't. The sound-blast is redolent of the commercial lapel-grabbing balance in River Dance.
I asked Mem Productions about the forces used in these recordings and their reply is worth quoting:-
“Some instruments in the symphonies have been used by sampling voices ….
But especially the strings (violins, violas, and cellos) have been mostly played by the members of the "Istanbul Symphony Orchestra..." They were all our friends...
The CDs were recorded in Istanbul, in 2008... You can mention the conductor as Tuğrul Karataş if you like, because he directed the musicians while they were playing for these albums in the studio. We named them "Golden Horn Symphony Orchestra ... [or Bosphorus Symphony Orchestra]" We did this because all of the members of the Istanbul Symphony Orchestra were not present. In Yunus Emre Symphony, the "Ney" eastern flute was played by Türker Dinletir. In Bediüzzaman New Age, electric guitars were played by a Jewish guitarist named Izi Eliah, who lives in Istanbul ...
We call him Izi Eli ...
The fretless guitars were played by Hasan Cihat Örter in the same album. Also we used "baglama (saz)" in Bediüzzaman New Age for the folkloric melodies. The Anatolian Guitar Concerto will be played in the future by an international guitarist, from Russian Georgia, named "Kako Vashalomidze". So we had to use sampling guitar sounds for now.”
With the exception of two traditional melodies the themes across all three discs are by the project's leading voice, Murat Malay who also wrote the notes. The orchestration and musico-technical creative process is by Tugrul Karatas.
The recordings have a colossal and resonant sound. It's the sort of popular audio-image one might hear in celebration of some Olympic auditorium event - subtle and local it ain't. The sound-blast is redolent of the commercial lapel-grabbing balance in River Dance.
I asked Mem Productions about the forces used in these recordings and their reply is worth quoting:-
“Some instruments in the symphonies have been used by sampling voices ….
But especially the strings (violins, violas, and cellos) have been mostly played by the members of the "Istanbul Symphony Orchestra..." They were all our friends...
The CDs were recorded in Istanbul, in 2008... You can mention the conductor as Tuğrul Karataş if you like, because he directed the musicians while they were playing for these albums in the studio. We named them "Golden Horn Symphony Orchestra ... [or Bosphorus Symphony Orchestra]" We did this because all of the members of the Istanbul Symphony Orchestra were not present. In Yunus Emre Symphony, the "Ney" eastern flute was played by Türker Dinletir. In Bediüzzaman New Age, electric guitars were played by a Jewish guitarist named Izi Eliah, who lives in Istanbul ...
We call him Izi Eli ...
The fretless guitars were played by Hasan Cihat Örter in the same album. Also we used "baglama (saz)" in Bediüzzaman New Age for the folkloric melodies. The Anatolian Guitar Concerto will be played in the future by an international guitarist, from Russian Georgia, named "Kako Vashalomidze". So we had to use sampling guitar sounds for now.”
With the exception of two traditional melodies the themes across all three discs are by the project's leading voice, Murat Malay who also wrote the notes. The orchestration and musico-technical creative process is by Tugrul Karatas.