A new cycle of events entitled “Contemporary Greek Concertsa “opens in May at the Athens Concert Hall.
It is dedicated to composers who wrote for solo instruments accompanied by an orchestra, focusing on one of the most famous and beloved musical forms, but also to Greek composers of the 20th and 21st century who explored it through their works.
At the center of the opening concert, which will take place on Wednesday, May 4 at 20:30 in the Christos Lambrakis Hall, is Concerto no. 4 for piano, saxophone quartet and string orchestra “The isokratima of a middle-aged man” by George Koumentakis, artistic director of the National Opera and one of the most gifted and multidimensional Greek composers of our time with rich symphony music, music and chamber music for the performing arts (theater, cinema, dance, opera, installations).
The work, which is inspired by the inexhaustible richness of the Byzantine tradition, will be performed by George-Emmanuel Lazaridis, an internationally renowned pianist, and the distinguished soloists Guido de Flavis (soprano saxophone), Stathis Mavrogofos (alto saxophone) and Ilia Samsonov (baritone saxophone). With them, on stage, the National Symphony Orchestra of the Hellenic Radio and Television, with Zoe Tsokanou on the podium. The leading Greek chief musician has successful international collaborations in both opera and symphonic music, while she is the first woman to take over the reins of the Thessaloniki State Orchestra in 2017 as artistic director.
In this second collaboration with ERT ESO, Zoe Tsokanou will also conduct the Orchestra in two emblematic works of the French and German repertoire: in the dreamy “Prelude to the Afternoon of a Fauna” by Claude Debussy and in Symphony no. 1 in a major recession, “Spring”, one of Robert Schumann’s most popular.
A few words about the projects
The symphonic poem “Prelude to the Afternoon of a Fauna”, a representative masterpiece of Impressionism, was written by Claude Debussy between 1892 and 1894 and was intended as an introduction to a three-part composition, which was never completed by the leading French composer. The source of inspiration for Debussy was the poem of the same title by the Frenchman Stefan Mallarme (1842-1898), a prominent figure in the literary movement of Symbolism. “Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun” was first performed on December 22, 1894 by the Orchestra of the National Society of Music in Paris with the Swiss conductor and composer Gustave Doré on the podium and the famous soloist Georges Barreur on the flute.
Work of 1841, Agreement no. 1 in a major recession Robert Schumann was named “Spring” by the composer himself, who wanted to praise, through the alternations of his music style, the rebirth of nature and emphasize the importance of hope in human life. Schumann worked out her basic draft in just four days and composed it in a month. The “Spring” Symphony was first performed by the famous Gewanthaus Orchestra on March 31, 1841 in Leipzig under the famous composer and chief musician Felix Mendelssohn. The “Spring” Agreement, although a typical example of European Romanticism, assimilates elements of Beethoven and Schubert’s writing, combining them with the modern spirit and Schumann’s original orchestral richness.
Concerto no. 4 for piano, saxophone quartet and string orchestra “The isokratima of a middle-aged man” through the eyes of G. Koumentakis
“The isokratima of a middle-aged man” (2009), concerto (no 4) for piano, saxophone quartet and string orchestra, is the first work from the cycle of isokratima. It is a personal narrative and emotional recording of thoughts that result from the transition between youth and old age. A top moment of the musical narration is the cadenza in the middle of the work, which is based on a “banking” melody (of the backgammon) from Thrace “notes George Koumentakis and adds:
“I do not choose by chance the moment when everyone sits around the table, when everything calms down and the emotions calm down and the maturity is expressed effortlessly and the song liberatingly dominates and relieves the tricks and tripods of life.
It is also no coincidence that in the last part the isocracy is rendered by the voices of the musicians. It is difficult for me to take a Byzantine melody and cut it off from its ritual content. So I take its base, the “equal” and on it I complicate the banking melody, also a sacred ending and a group expression that completes around a table with relatives and friends.
I personally follow two ways of editing traditional music material. The first, and less common, is to take a piece of tradition intact, realize its value and power, and try to see it from a different angle, such as “Point of no Return.” based on two Smyrnaean songs. The second way is for this material to emerge from memory and to try to reconstruct it through what has reached me as color, as pulse and as energy, such as “The typewriter melodies” for lafta and violin, etc. I do not reproduce the melody itself, but the invisible imprints it left in its passage. This path is an immersion in the instinctive, unconscious side of tradition. The recording is done effortlessly and there needs a good relationship with the time and with the sounds. It is a ritual that highlights the power of primitive sound, the obsession with small repetitive units full of colors and mysticism. In other words, it is a psychoacoustic process that turns sounds into a source of life “.
Ticket prices: from 6 to 25 euros.
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