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articles
Classical Music Magazine --Financial Times --
Piano Magazine
Classical Music Magazine, January 31, 1998
Double Vision
As piano duos go, Güher and Süher Pekinel are something of a rarity - identical twins with a vision that goes beyond turning in first-class performances. With concerts next month in London and Bristol they continue to raise funds to endow a music library in their native Turkey. Andrew Stewart reports
Psycho-analysts, para-psychologists and investigators for the Fortean Times would all be sure to quiver at the prospect of interviewing outstandingly talented identical twins, especially those who happen to share outstanding talents in a single discipline. Is it true that one twin can often tell what the other is thinking? And if so, how?
Anyone watching the Pekinels, Güher and Süher, at work on Stravinsky's two-piano version of The Rite of Spring could be forgiven for thinking that sixth sense was a fact of genetic inheritance, although both sisters conclude that shared chromosomes are no substitute for relentless practice and sheer hard craft when it comes to faultless ensemble and immaculate phrasing.
The Pekinel twins were born in Istanbul and were introduced to the piano by their Spanish mother. Their progress was such that they performed in public for the first time at the age of six, worked with the Ankara Philharmonic three years later and subsequenly enrolled for lessons at the Paris Conservatoire, moving to the Musikhochschule in Frankfurt and on to the United States for postgraduate work with Rudolf Serkin at the Curtis Institute and further studies with the formidable Adele Marcus at the Juilliard School.
In the late 1960's Güher took time off from the piano to study philosophy and join student-led protests against the Vietnam war and Germany's treatment of its immigrant population. Her youthful radicalism was softened by a police water canon and a baton beating that left her in hospital. Süher also quit the keyboard to study psychology, but rejoined her sister in concert less than two years later.
Although the Pekinels were frequent visitors to London during the early days of their career, their more recent triumphs have been secured in Germany, France, Italy, the United States and Japan. Sueher recalls how the duo established a following among audiences at the Wigmore Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall and Barbican only for circumstances to change and shift the balance of their work elsewhere.
"A few years after we began appearing in London our managmenet went out of business. This was a shock to us, and we were just so busy touring that we did not feel we needed to come to London to look for another manager." While eager promoters haggled to book the Pekinel girls their London presence dwindled. "We thought the public in England would hear about us anyway," says Güher. "But they didn't! We began to realize that musical life in London was different from that anywhere else, that it was just so difficult to pick up where we had left off. Now I am happy to be living here and able to experience the art and culture of the place."
The sisters' move to London came after a two-year break from performing, during which they travelled to India and the Far East. The lengthy sabbatical was prefaced by 15 years of uninterrupted touring. "We needed to be outside of that world, even though our manager said we shoudn't do it," explains Süher. "We felt there was nothing more we could say about the works in our repertoire in the way we really wanted to say it. Sure, we would have played perfectly. But that was not the point."
The Pekinels have been back to work for nine months, their UK representation now handled by Connaught Artists Management and with both sisters now living for part of the year in London. They return to Queen Elizabeth Hall on 5 February to perform a typically uncompromising bill of works for two pianos by, among others, Brahms, JC Bach, Gershwin, Liszt and Lutoslawski, repeating their programme three days later at St. George's, Brandon Hill in Bristol. "It will be interesting to see if any of our followers from before come back to hear us," says Süher.
Newcomers to a Pekinel concert are invariably struck by the twins' uncanny ability to communicate speeds and rubato without gyrating wildly from the piano stool or even looking at one another. They agree that natural-born empathy gives them a lead over most piano duos, although it can be a menace when a work requires each player to produce contrasting shape and character in their respective parts.
Do they ever argue over interpretation? "Argue," shrieks Güher. "We really fight, but using different actics." So who wins? "It depends on the tactics! Both of us have to reach a point where we agree on the truth of how something should be played. Because of this we record every note when we rehearse, so that we can judge the reality."
While the Pekinels are not alone among notable Turkish classical musicans, their home country can hardly boast an unbroken tradition of western music-making.
The sisters are presently busy raising funds to endow a music library at the heart of a new congress and cultural centre soon to be built in Istanbul.
Why are they so eager to invest money into a cultural home for western arts in a country that might better support its native traditions? "Western arts have been there for centuries" says Süher. "The Ottoman sultans were educated in four languages. Some of them painted very beautiful works of art and they sent many young painters to Germany, France and England to be educated there. So there is a tradition which is not well known in Europe." Güher adds that Turkey has been open to influences from countless other countries, western and eastern.
"Everybody went through Turkey and left something of their own culture there," says Süher. "We always had to compare ourselves with Europe, but we could not claim that we were Osmans or Turks with distinct cultures like other eastern countries. Because of this there are always prolems, like those we have now with the European Union, where we are not understood. Yes, Turkey has made its mistakes but so have other countries. We didn't give so much importance, as they have done in Greece, to huge promotion of our nation and its cultural heritage."
She points out that Turkey's dynamic but almost unfathomable economy has given power to people who formerly believed that only the state could provide. "The people have risen above the politics of the country now, because they saw the state taking itself too seriously and taking too much power away from them."
People power has been energised as much by community-minded big business as by Turkey's left wing and liberal democrat parties, part of a gradual evolutionary process in public opinion. "Everyone recognises the strategic position of Turkey, but they don't appreciate its cultural strengths. Now the Turkish public is ready to understand the bigger picture."
According to Güher Pekinel, "it was almost impossible to give concerts outside Istanbul even two years ago. There were no concert halls or promoters in places like Bursa, Malatya or Antalya. But now orchestras are touring there and their concerts sell out without even the need for promotion. The people appreciate this so much." She offers the new 2,500-seat concert hall and cultural centre in Antalya as a typical example of Turkish enterprise. "Culture was always supported by the state, but since the economy began to grow and became strong over the last decade private money has been invested in many new projects. That makes sense to us."
"In Turkey most of the money coming from big companies to support the arts has been given by people who studied abroad and recognise the value of culture," adds Süher. "That is the main reason why the arts have been brought to a higher level than ever before, and we hope that this support will develop much faster as more people become involved. The most expensive and high quality concerts are almost always sold out now before any promotion has been made, which is amazing."
The twins assert in unison that their Istanbul library project will satisfy a growing need for information on western classical music, providing a resounce previously unavailable to the Turkish public. "It is our vocation to do this," says Güher. "Since we studied in France, Germany and the United States, it is our fortune to have these three cultures in our souls. It is a must that we pass this on to others."
Profits from the Pekinels' South Bank and Bristol concerts will be added to the Istanbul library fund, which will eventually be converted into a comprehensive stock of books and scores, sound and audio recordings, CD-Roms and a resource devoted to Turkish and eastern music. "You are in another dimension from us in Turkey," says Güher. "In London you complain about the cutbacks that may be made to one or other of your many libraries, but we do not have the luxury even to discuss that. I hope that in 15 years' time we can compare our library with other new libraries in Shishli, Eskisehir or wherever."
How does she respond to those who argue that money raised for a specialist music library in prosperous Istanbul might be better spent to help alleviate poverty in more remote regions of Turkey? "It is quite right to say that most Turkish people would once have asked this question. But now education is recognised throughout the country as the first and most important thing that has to be supported. In the last two years I have been amazed by how ordinary people, not just the rich, are prepared to finance schools and give money to improve the education system. This is great, since in the past people were content to let the state look after education - they did not want to give anything else. Now people realise that this is an investment in their children's' future."
Süher Pekinel reacts strongly against the suggestion that the music library and its companion concert halls and theatre will only benefit a small section of Turkish society. "For us it is entirely natural as musicians to project what we have inside to other people. So we want to share our knowledge of music with as many people as possible in Turkey. This is not a project that we have just invented, since we always had the feeling that when we came back to Turkey we would have to do something to pass on what we had discovered. As you get older, you look to your roots. This is why we felt we just had to give something back to our country."
Four Hand Fireworks, Classical Music Magazine, January 29, 1998
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