Backstage pass: pianist Fazıl Say on the story behind ‘Mother Earth’

Your piano concerto Mother Earth is being premiered in the UK by the Philharmonia Orchestra. What inspired this piece?

Mother Earth is a piano concerto written around the themes of ecology and the environmental challenges our planet faces today, particularly climate change. It was first performed at the Expo 2025 Osaka. The work reflects the soil, earthquakes, forests and wildfires, the seas and rivers, but also the depletion of water. It portrays both the beauty of our world and the damage we cause with our own hands. I wanted to create a piece that raises awareness of this great danger. It is an honor for me to perform it in the UK premiere with the renowned conductor [Santtu-Matias] Rouvali and the Philharmonia Orchestra.
 
Can you tell us a bit more about your journey as a pianist and a composer? 

My first piano teacher, Mithat Fenmen, recognised my skills for composition when I was only five years old. I began both piano and composition at the same time. Before each lesson, he had a very interesting method: he would ask me to improvise freely, as long as I wanted. He told me to express through music whatever I had seen that day, the cars on the street, children playing at school, football, traffic jams, whatever came to mind. I would start to play and translate it all into sound. This practice greatly developed my improvisational ability. Improvisation is the twin sibling, indeed, the very mother of composition. Every composition is, in a sense, born from improvisation. So, I began both playing the piano and composing music simultaneously when I was five. 
 
You were awarded the International Beethoven Prize for Human Rights and Freedom. How do social and political themes influence your music?

My compositions have always reflected the world we live in. Sometimes I depict a city, sometimes an event, sometimes nature or its destruction. At other times, I portray a poet or an individual. Almost all my works have a subject, a story. I am, in essence, a composer of programmatic music, one who loves to tell stories through sound. Therefore, the social and political realities of the world have always found their way into my music. I received the Beethoven Prize in 2016. Beethoven, of course, stands among our greatest guiding lights in music when it comes to ideals like human rights and democracy. For that reason, receiving an award in his name was a profound honor for me. 
 
What do you hope audiences take away from your music, especially newer works like Mother Earth?

I believe that both the orchestral musicians, Maestro Rouvali, and the London audience will enjoy Mother Earth and appreciate what I wanted to convey through it. It’s a work that is rich in rhythm, melody, and atmosphere, easy to follow, yet full of expressive depth. You’ll often hear sounds that evoke nature itself, which I hope will make it a fascinating experience for everyone. I wish all Londoners a very enjoyable listening experience. 

I am, in essence, a composer of programmatic music, one who loves to tell stories through sound