Biography

Franghiz Ali-Zadeh (Firəngiz Əlıizadə) is a prominent Azerbaijani composer and pianist whose work uniquely combines Western and Eastern musical traditions. She was born on May 28, 1947, in Baku, Azerbaijan. There, she studied piano and composition at the Baku Conservatory from 1965 to 1972. She continued her academic and artistic studies with a doctorate in 1989 and a habilitation in 1997, focusing particularly on symphonic music.
 

The composer made her first appearance in the West in 1976 at a concert in Pesaro, Italy. This was followed by numerous performances at international music festivals in major cultural centers such as New York, Stockholm, and Berlin. Her compositional work is regularly honored with commissions for prestigious events, underscoring her international recognition.
 

In addition to her career as a composer and pianist, Ali-Zadeh is also a highly regarded teacher. Since 1990, she has been a professor at the Azerbaijan State Conservatory, where she teaches modern Western and Eastern composition techniques. From 1992 to 1996, she was also a choir director at the Mersin Opera House, where she had a lasting impact on the musical profile.
 

Her work comprises around 60 compositions in various genres, which have been published by Sikorski Music Publishers. These include works for ballet as well as compositions for important occasions, such as the 30th anniversary of the 12 Cellists of the Berlin Philharmonic. A special milestone in her career came in 1999, when she became the first woman to be appointed composer-in-residence at the Lucerne Festival.
 

Interview

When preparing the premiere, Christoph Jäggin and Franghiz Ali-Zadeh worked closely together. She made her suggestions and amendments for a better presentation of the musical material, in phrasing and rhythmic features.
 

The composer’s style by that time (1994) had already developed, and before Phantasie she already had many works in different genres, for different instruments and lineups. She has never written for guitar before, and this is her first and so far only piece for this instrument. But she has written another Phantasie for organ, which she wrote in 1977, and it is often performed in different countries.
 

Why is the piece important?

For a more open canon that includes marginalised groups – such as female composers – it is essential to take a critical approach to traditional historiography of genius. Who decides which works are masterpieces? Who is a genius? Who is successful? What is valuable? When in doubt, it is the established structures with their structural injustices: the male gaze, white dominance, a Eurocentric background.
 

This makes it all the more important to find works that take a different approach and open up a new perspective on the concert guitar as an instrument. In Ali-Zadeh’s Phantasia, it is the transcultural approach, the synthesis of Western influence – especially the Second Viennese School – and Azerbaijani music – in particular the tradition of mugam– that is groundbreaking for our concert repertoire. Deeply rooted in both traditions, Western contemporary music and complex Azerbaijani folk music, Ali-Zadeh creates a  composition that is hybrid in the best sense of the word—one that can be both Azerbaijani national/folk music and speak an internationally understandable musical language.
 

In her music, she uses mugam models, special scales on which Azerbaijan’s orally transmitted improvised art music is based. All her compositions have in common that they are characterized by quiet, introverted moments in which individual sounds, rhythms, or timbres are intensively explored. These are abruptly replaced by highly virtuosic, passionate outbursts. Meditation and ecstasy are not contradictory, but form two contrasting, complementary sides of a comprehensive musical thinking.
 

Phantasie

According to the preface, the Phantasie has a three-part form, but we perceive it as being divided into five musical units. In the first, entitled “Andante (tranquillo)”, there is a rather free exploration of the material (the mugam): no bars, a few commas, flowing transitions from slow, solemn melody fragments to faster runs, lots of interpretative freedom and room to breathe.
 

This is followed by the section “Ritmico – animato – vivace,” an almost dance-like, ecstatic outburst with possibly strong references to the ryhthms of Azerbaijani folk music. The increasing density is interrupted several times by quiet moments of pause, only to finally increase in intensity again.
 

Stronger references to the Viennese School can possibly be heard in the following “Presto.” Rhythmically dominated structures collide, dissolve, meet again, deform, and escalate. This first climax is followed by a return to the first movement, whereby the meditative calm of the beginning is transformed into a more tense and tonally intense atmosphere through the use of flagolets, glissandi, and individual whistled notes. The composition reaches its climax in the movement entitled “Dramatico prestissimo,” which concludes the composition in a manner that is short, virtuosic, and almost orchestral in sound.

Recordings

There are a few recordings of the Phantasie, some of which involve significant changes to the structure and music of the composition. Even though the work clearly invites free interpretation and sound design, it seems questionable to make such significant changes to the musical text of a composition of this quality.
 
 

© Emma Baiguera and Jannis Wichmann 2025