ILYAS MIRZAYEV (b.1961): Overture Yunus Emre, Flute Concerto "From Mevlana to Today", Dede Efendi Gulnihal, ARIF MELIKOV (b.1931): Concertino for Flute and String Orchestra, EKREM ZEKI ÜN (1910-1897): At the Tomb of Yunus.

Description: The soloist is Turkish, two of the composers are from Azerbaijan (one, Mirzayev, now living in Turkey) and one from Turkey. In Mirzayev's overture and concerto, he makes use of Turkish Sufi motives and rhythms and Turkish folk songs to weave colorful, sometimes insistently mesmerizing (these are the "whirling dervishes" whose music is being tapped here, after all) orchestral backdrops to the light, ethereal and graceful solo flute; Gulnihal is an adaptation of a dance by that name composed by the 19th century composer Ismail Dede Efendi (1782-1846). Melikov gets short shrift in the notes (which will tell you tons about Turkish mysticism and give you pages of reviews of the soloist), his 13-minute Concertino being described only as "early" and using traditional folk motives in a Romantic style. Sefika Kutluer (flute), Virtuosi di Praga; Oldrich Vlcek.