Türkçe

Improvisational performance lives up to billing

By Peter Jacobi, Herald-Times

October 13, 2004
From Hakan Toker came revelry during a Saturday evening event in the John Waldron Arts Center. His calling card labels Toker as "pianist, composer, improviser, entertainer." His recital strongly and engagingly supported the claim.

Toker was, throughout the program, an entertainer capable of sustaining a listener's attention: The words you're reading speak for this listener; long bursts of applause, hoots and hollers, and a standing ovation testified to audience enthusiasm. Since his instrument for expression is the piano, he gave evidence, again across the span of a full evening, of his pianistic prowess. As for his compositional and improvisational gifts, these Toker shared in generous measures but in turn: The concert contained impressive examples of each.

His own pieces to each of which he attached autobiographical influences such as youthful adoration of Chopin or rebellion or unassuaged love tended, at once, to soothe a listener's ears and test the composer-pianist's virtuosity at the keyboard. Toker chose some bagatelles and waltzes that contain both originality of expression and a tendency toward eclecticism.

The focus of the evening, however, veered toward the performer's amazing ability to improvise. In that capacity, he put on a magic show: he mimicked styles of musical eras; he made a unit of such disparate items as "Tea for Two," "Edelweiss" from "The Sound of Music" and "Old MacDonald Had a Farm;" he blended Ravel's "Bolero" and "Jingle Bells."

He was clad in eveningwear, including tuxedo and a bright red bow tie. His look assisted by naturally curly black hair and a mustache trained into an anti-gravitational upsweep suggested a cross of Salvador Dali, Charlie Chaplin and Harpo Marx. A surrealistic stage environment (grand piano without top, a woman's red shoe mounted on a rod pointing to the ceiling, a Roman pedestal with vase of flowers from which he took sips of water, an oversized plaster leg-and-a-half in the background) helped insinuate the exaggerated and absurd.

Toker's finale was an improvised composition built, incredibly, on 80 or so stray notes contributed by members of the audience. From groups of those notes, he created themes, and out of themes, this man of fertile mind and agile hands constructed a piano essay that had merit and proved fun to hear. Look in on him, should this locally based artist make another local appearance.

Pick a note, any note

 By John Glover, Indiana Daily Student

 Monday, October 11, 2004

You might notice something odd about the program," a small figure quietly remarked from behind his piano, "and that is that there's no program printed in it." A bemused chuckle floated through the hall as the audience shifted in their seats, eagerly waiting to hear what sounds would greet them next. The concert had opened with a double cartwheel and a raucous mixture of Viennese waltz, "My Way" and "Fur Elise." It was anybody's guess what he might do next.

Just by his entrance, it was certain Hakan Ali Toker was no ordinary pianist, and this would prove to be no ordinary evening of piano music. The John Waldron Arts Center was something straight from a Dali painting Friday night, with Turkish rugs, drums, fruit baskets, Greek columns and a red high-heeled shoe dangling from the top of the piano. The eclectic surroundings proved prophetic as Toker put his talents to work fusing Beethoven with Gershwin, "Old MacDonald" with Maurice Ravel and all the while taking them through every genre from Baroque to jazz. He opened the show by taking requests from the audience for specific tunes. After he gathered a few, he would masterfully improvise over them, cleverly weaving together a piece on the fly that startled, amused and often touched the listener.

His spontaneity and skill seemed to know no bounds. Other materials were quickly gathered from which he could improvise his works. Phone numbers were translated swiftly into notes, becoming the thematic material for a waltz gone awry. Mid-concert two improvisational dancers appeared, and the three of them created a spontaneous dialogue. Often Toker would stand up from his piano to get a better glimpse of their movements, transferring their gestures to his keyboard.

To conclude the program he asked for a note from each member of the audience, carefully writing each one down. He then extracted motives from the set that deemed themselves worthy of use and created a grand finale to the evening with a lengthy and virtuosic creation.

What was so engaging about Toker's improvisations was their skillful balance of sincere expression and technical know-how. He proved himself to be well-versed in most musical forms, first taking a tango theme on a time trip through the stylistic periods of Western classical music (from Baroque to Bartok). Later he played a traditional Turkish tune, accompanied by drums, causing members of the audience to rise from their seats and dance.

Despite the technical display he gave, one came away feeling as if the concert had been less of an acrobatic exercise and more of a genuine confessional. He opened the second half with some written compositions he had done while still a young student in Turkey. These were simpler pieces with no improvisation involved, but were, in his own words, "photographs of (his) past" which he shared with the audience. From the lists of familiar tunes, phone numbers, waltzes and dance gestures, Mr. Toker created a truly unique and original voice. For the course of one "odd" program, the audience was fortunate enough to listen.

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a master magician storyteller on the ivories!    -Dr. Jane Bourgeois

The way he plays with themes, and weaves totally unrelated elements into an incredibly aesthetic whole, is very impressive. His warm attitude, and ability to incorporate the voluntary and the accidental "contributions" of the audience, as well as his being one with music (of any kind) are all very unique I can no longer listen passively to music, without creating improvisations in my head.

-Prof. Leah Savion, Indiana University

The post-intermission offerings turned out to be most fulfilling, starting auspiciously, provocatively, stunningly with a performance by pianist Hakan Ali Toker of Charles Alkan's Etude No.12, Opus 31, a beastly feast of a piece that requires the pianist to blend and control cross-rhythms of frightening difficulty, part bolero, part mazurka. Alkan wrote powerful stuff that some of today's technically facile pianists are beginning to revive. Count Toker as one.

-Herald Times

Foote's piano cycle, as well as Toker's entire concert program are evidence to the young pianist's diverse musical interests and good taste. High spirituality, free command of infinite timbre and dynamic possibilities of the piano, distinguished his way of playing.

-Chernomorskaya Zdravnitza (Russian newspaper)

Hakan A. Toker caught everybody's attention with his extraordinary music One of his own compositions, Fantasy op.63 was the best of the evening, making the audience love an avant-garde music which contained traces of romanticism.

-Turkish Daily News

"Good evening. I will play for you my sins." With those words, Hakan Toker began a musical performance of exceptional quality he played [his] Private and Unembarrassed Waltzes on the piano. Full of musical jokes, strange passages and intense outbursts, they completely captivated the audience It was definitely the highlight of the evening.

-Indiana Daily Student