Musical analysis and violin technique examination of Oguzhan Balcı's Violin Concerto

This study includes the evaluation of the violin concerto of composer Oğuzhan Balcı, one of the important representatives of today's Turkish musical culture, in terms of music and violin techniques. In its thousands of years of history, Turkish music culture, which has reached the present day by blending different cultural elements across a vast geography, has only had a brief acquaintance with Western music that does not exceed two centuries. After the spark ignited with Muzika-i Hümâyûn in the 19th century, Western culture, which began to take root in the Republic, quickly started nurturing its composers, performers, and orchestra conductors. Over the 85 years since the first Turkish violin concerto composed by Cemal Reşit Rey in 1939, Turkish composers have created more than twenty additional violin concertos. Many of the existing Turkish violin concertos also incorporate the rhythmic and modal structures of Turkish music. However, how the Turkish melodies they contain are perceived within the Western temperament system has been a long-debated topic among representatives of these two contrasting cultures. Oğuzhan Balcı Violin Concerto," which is the creation of a mind familiar with both Western and Turkish music culture, has become one of the most frequently performed Turkish concertos. Therefore, selecting this work for examination is not merely a result of personal preference. In the thesis, the relationship between Western music and the violin with Turkish musical culture and the life of Oğuzhan Balcı will be included, and the composition and first performance process of the Violin Concerto will be touched upon. In this regard, the interviews held at different times with Oğuzhan Balcı and Cihat Aşkın will also be used. The findings obtained from the evaluation of the concerto in terms of form, harmonics, modal analysis, and violin techniques will be presented.