Analysing Synthetic Scale Structures in Ulvi Cemal Erkin’s Piano Sonata, 1st and 2nd Symphonies

Ulvi Cemal Erkin was a composer who was influenced by the Impressionist movement. This effect is particularly evident in timbre, texture, and chord elements. He composed works that combined traditional Turkish <em>makam </em>music with Western musical elements. He combined folk dances, Anatolian melodies, and usûls and/or scale of the Turkish <em>makam </em>music, and utilized pentatonic scales, whole-tone scale, and synthetic scales while creating melodies. Besides, synthetic scale structures, which Erkin utilized, are not limited to the Turkish <em>makam </em>music. However, while analysing the scale structures employed by Erkin, researchers focused on their similarities with Turkish <em>makam </em>music. Therefore, the structures of synthetic scales that differ from the Turkish <em>makam </em>music scales utilized by Erkin will be analysed in this study. The scope of the study is limited to Erkin’s <em>Piano Sonata</em>, 1st and 2nd <em>Symphonies</em>. Document analysis, literature review method and style analysis method will be employed in this study. As a result, Erkin utilized such synthetic scales as overtone, Neapolitan Major 6th, Asian Bartók, Hungarian Minor/Major. Beside, he employed ‘rotation’ structures of some Turkish <em>makam </em>music scale. In this way, he expanded range of scale he employed. A comparative analysis of his works with those of other composers would contribute to the field.