Turkish Pianist Weds Pink Floyd and Liszt
Pink Floyd and classical music? Oh, it’s been done before – both by practitioners of the ‘fine arts’ and rockers like Killing Joke frontman Jaz Coleman (see the ‘Us and Them’ project).
But Turkish-born pianist, Aysedeniz Gokcin, has delivered a new spin on this concept via her new release, ‘Pink Floyd ‘Lisztified’: Fantasia Quasi Sonata,’ which sees the Royal Academy of Music graduate performing a trio of Pink Floyd classics filtered through the works of famed Hungarian pianist and composer Franz Liszt.
By way of explaining the parallels she sees between Liszt and the Floyd, Gokcin told Intropia, “I felt that their concepts and philosophies are very similar, based around romantic heroes who isolate themselves from the world, creating various ‘walls’ – political, social and emotional.†The pianist went on to state that her interpretation of ‘Another Brick In The Wall’ was inspired by Liszt’s ‘Dante Sonata,’ which references Dante’s ‘Inferno.’ “I wanted to paint that image of Hell in my rendition,†she explained.
Gokcin, who made her concert debut at age nine, concluded: “I want to unite my love of classical and rock music and let the listeners and spectators experience classical music in an unconventional way.†The end results entail imaginative performances of Pink Floyd favorites, ‘Hey You,’ ‘Wish You Were Here’ and ‘Another Brick in the Wall’ that are at times placid and restrained, quite aggressive and virtuosic at others. Sample one of them for yourself at SoundCloud.
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