Turkish composer Fazil Say (b1970) was deeply affected by the widespread deforestation at Mount Ida in Türkiye in 2019 that resulted from mining activities, and, in solidarity with public demonstrations against this assault on the environment, he responded with his passionate Violin Sonata No. 2 Kaz dağları (Mount Ida) (2019).

The dramatic first movement of Say’s sonata, Decimation of Nature, opens with a violent hammering in the bass notes of the piano to represent the sound of drilling into rock. The violin begins mournfully, then at times angrily decries the destruction and at times evokes the destruction itself. 

Emily Sun. Photo © Shi-Joong Kim

Violinist Emily Sun’s and pianist Andrea Lam’s performance is electrifying.

The second movement, Wounded Bird, opens with a quiet piano line that suggests the silence of the cleared land, and the dissonant violin reproduces the forlorn chirping of a wounded bird. The hammering piano returns to conclude the movement.

In the third movement, Rite of Hope,...