PIANO CREDO
Aliya Turetayeva
“Miss Turetayeva is clearly a wonderful lyrical pianist, and it is a pleasure to listen to the young pianist play as she considers each note and each phrase diligently. I am sure that she will make it very far in her career.”
New York Concert Review
“I was very impressed by the beautiful, controlled sound and the vibrant tones which she elicits out of her instrument.”
American Beethoven Society
Bach – Schumann – Schubert: these three fixed stars on the pianistic firmament are arguably revered by nearly all musicians. “All of the pieces recorded for this album are very dear to my heart and have influenced me deeply on an artistic as well as personal level,” explains Kazakh pianist Aliya Turetayeva, who is based in Cologne. Her new CD presents sounding evidence for this influence.
Johann Sebastian Bach’s choral preludes can unfold their special magic on the piano, too. Originally written for the organ, they lend a virtually sacral aura to even the most profane keys. “The work of Johann Sebastian Bach has always been of incredible importance to me. Through his music, I have always felt connected to eternity, and I have shared many moments of joy as well as sadness with Bach’s music over the last years,” says Aliya Turetayeva. She plays the choral preludes Ich ruf dir zu, Herr Jesu Christ (BWV 630) and Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland (BWV 659) in the adaptations by Ferruccio Busoni. Busoni’s adaptations preserve the uniqueness and distinctiveness of these baroque pieces but are turned into small gems of romantic piano literature through some crucial changes.
Already thanks to its length of a good quarter of an hour, the chaconne in Partita Nr. 2 for Solo Violin in D minor (BWV 1004) comes across as considerably more monumental. Turetayeva also plays this piece in an adaptation by Ferruccio Busoni. “Busoni’s adaptation is incredibly masterful – Busoni was himself a virtuosic pianist. In certain parts, the transcription has an orchestral and organ sound, and can surely be considered as one of the most outstanding works of musical literature.”
Franz Schubert’s Sonata in A major D 664 Op. posth. 120 and Robert Schumann’s three Fantasy Pieces Op. 111 likewise hold a special significance for Aliya Turetayeva. Schubert’s sonata “has a very romantic feel in all three movements. Truly sincere, honest feelings and emotions are expressed throughout the entire piece – from the more lyrical character at the beginning, to the brightly lit atmosphere in the middle, and finally in the rather rustic and upbeat final movement.” The Fantasy Pieces by Schumann fascinate through their passionate and sincere character, through their contrasting and diversified elements and through the enchanting music. The first fantasy is very stormy, the second is a romance, and the last fantasy starts out full of energy but soon turns towards a more poetic mood. Taken together, a wonderful portrait of a promising pianist emerges.
Aliya Turetayeva was born in Almaty, Kazakhstan, in 1986. She began taking piano lessons at age five. When she was 18, she was accepted into Prof. Pavel Gililov’s masterclass at the Academy for Music and Dance Cologne, where she received her master’s degree in 2010. She completed her postgraduate studies (Konzertexamen) at the University Mozarteum in Salzburg with top grade, under Prof. Pavel Gililov. Additionally, she simultaneously studied at the Koninklijk Conservatorium Brussels in Belgium. Aliya Turetayeva has performed concerts, among others, at the Klavier-Festival Ruhr, International Chamber Music Festival Stavanger, and the XIV Festival de Music International Tenerife as well as Steinway Hall London, St. Martin-in-the-Fields, Royal Albert Hall London, Beethoven House in Bonn and Theater Vorpommern. She has worked with many important musicians like Mikhail Voskresensky, Imogen Cooper, Filipe Pinto-Ribeiro, Vladimir Krainev, and Stephen Kovacevich.
Aliya has received multiple awards at numerous international competitions such as the Feurich International Piano Competition in Vienna or the Verao Classico Festival in Lisboa. Her debut album came out in June 2020 under the label KNS Classical in Barcelona. In 2021, Aliya became artist in residence at Porto PianoFest. As a soloist, she has performed with the chamber orchestra Ferruccio Bevenuto Busoni, Circle Symphony Orchestra Cittadella and Tartu-Maarja Chamber Orchestra. In addition to her soloist activities, Aliya is very involved in chamber music. For WDR Radio, she recorded chamber music works by G. Crumb and A. Schnittke. Currently, Aliya Turetayeva is dedicated to artistic research. She was accepted into the two programs by Orpheus Institute in Gent, one of the leading European centers for art research: Luigi Nono: Resonances and Erasmus Blended Intensive Program 2024.