Fazil Say Black Earth.

Fazil Say, piano; Laurent Korcia, violin. Nave.

Sometimes you take a chance - this CD is one, and is it different?

Yes, very different.

Fazil Say is Turkish, and has been playing music since he was a child.

He started by studying piano and composition at the Ankara State Conservatory, later moving to the Robert Schumann Institute in Dusseldorf, Germany.

His passion for Bach, Mozart and Stravinsky has made him a favourite at music festivals and recording studios around the world.

However, this CD is a celebration of his own unusual compositions and arrangements. The title piece Black Earth starts with Say plucking the chords with one hand under the lid of the piano, while playing on the keyboard with the other.

Based on a celebrated popular song by Asik Veysel a Turkish singer/poet the method of play is an unusual combination that works and bound to provoke comment.

His concerto Silk Road evokes all the feelings one would imagine on a journey across strange lands; rocky roads, stony paths and endless skies.

Paganini Variation, arranged in 1995, is fun, familiar and very New York-ish.

Brash, vibrant and brilliant, it was intended as an encore - a tribute to the music of Scott Joplin, Art Tatum, Gershwin and Bernstein, and it moves with pace.

This recording was made in Switzerland - those staid burghers must have been shocked.

Keep an eye out for this young man - he is only 33 years old - and if his career carries on at the pace of his music he'll be a force to be reckoned with.

He intends to write music for a ballet - pity the poor dancers! Wonderful stuff.