About Sultan M. Vahdettin records

Within the scope of the Hünkâr Makamı: Composer Padişahlar Külliyatı project, of which I am the General Music Director, the works of Sultan Vahdettin, the entire available score collection of which was performed for the first time, have caused great excitement for both me and my colleagues. Because these works, in addition to being difficult to perform, are works that have never been heard before. Therefore, the fact that they will set an example in terms of style and attitude has increased our responsibility on the one hand, and on the other hand, honored us because we are making a significant “first.” 
We know from Murat Bardakçı’s works that Sultan Vahdettin was interested in both Turkish and Western music, that he took Western music lessons from Necip Paşa and Turkish music lessons from Hacı Faik Bey, and that he made a very large score collection, especially during his years as a prince. The influence of Western music, as an extension of his period, is also quite visible in his works. However, we also know that valuable masters of Turkish music such as Tanburi Cemil, Udi Nevres, Levon Usta, Melekset Efendi, Hacı Faik Efendi, Aleksan Efendi, Asdik Usta and R. Şefik Fersan, who accompanied the same period, carried our musical flag during this period. Therefore, while performing the works of Sultan Vahdettin, we were careful to preserve this dual aspect and musical understanding of the relevant period.  
In this context, the most important feature that stands out in the implementation of our project was the music ensemble we formed by taking into account the instrument groups of the period, and accordingly, we formed this performance group consisting of kanun, classical kemençe, ney, oud, cello, daire and kudüm. This group included the innovations of palace and havas music. It was especially important for us that the cello instrument accompanied these works.  
Before starting the recordings, we worked on the tempo and styles for each piece individually with the relevant soloist musicians. Our first guide here was the form of the works and the tradition itself. Especially the fact that no metronome information was written on the compositions made it necessary for us to determine a tempo for these works with the knowledge of the form. Again, we cared about the arrangement of lyrics, understandable performance, and the momentary emotions that the musicians felt during the performance. Of course, while working on this process, we determined the draftsman (writing) errors in some notes and made corrections by taking into account the makam structure and course of the work. We completed our recordings by making decisions together with all the artists in my team -who are the most competent performers of Turkish Music. We are all very happy that these works have been brought to life for the first time and that we carry this signature. 
When we examine the works of Sultan Vahdettin, of whom 41 compositions have survived to the present day, as published in Murat Bardakçı's book Sultani Besteler in 1997, we can say that these are works full of longing and dominated by the theme of separation. These works, 40 of which are composed in song form and 1 in na’t form, consist of compositions made in minor usuls in 15 different makams. This situation can be evaluated as the continuation of the fact that, under the influence of Western music, the heavy forms, which were the most distinctive feature of the period, were completely replaced by the song form.  
The makams used in these works can be listed according to the number of works as follows:  

a) rast (2 works),  b) ferahnak (4 works),  c) suzinak (3 works),  d) hüzzam (3 works),  e) uşşak (5 works),  f) saba (4 works),  g) hüseyni (1 work),  h) nihavend (3 works),  ı) hicaz (8 works),  i) Mahur (1 work),  j) suzidil ​​(2 works), k) suzidilara (2 works),  l) sazkâr (1 work),  m) eviç (1 work),   n) gülizar (1 work). 

We are happy if we could contribute to this process, which we set out to benefit from the vast ocean of our cultural heritage and to leave such a quality publication to future generations... 

Best regards... 
Selçuk Murat Kızılateş