Passacaglia

The Turkish pianist and composer Fazıl Say has from the age of sic begun each day with the performance of a keyboard work by Bach; his concert programmes include both numerous original compositions and transcriptions. His own piano transcription of the well-known Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor is neither a mere incorporation of the pedal voice with its almost continous ostinato theme into the left hand of the piano part, nor a purely virtuoso ornamentation of the original version. His intention is to produce an imaginative transcription of the relatively two-dimensional organ registration utilising the tonal possibilities of the piano.