ALEA III ensemble / Theodore Antoniou conductor
Spyros Gikontis and Eleni Petridou violins
Costas Anastassopoulos violin
Vicky Stylianou piano
dissonArt ensemble / Nikos Athineos conductor
INTIMATE DIALOGUES
Genre : Classical
Catalogue: Phasma-Music 014
UPC: 660989085681
mastering: Marcin Kowalczyk
texts: © Alkis Baltas
graphic design: Michail Travlos
production management: Iwona Glinka
front cover: Digital Art by Michail Travlos
premiere: August 7, 2020
recording: track 1 Live performance
recording place: Tsai Performance Center (Boston University)
recorded in March, 2003
recording and editing: tracks 2-8 Ioannis Varelidis
mastering: tracks 2-8 Athens Mastering
recording place: House od Sound Studio in Xanthi, Greece
recorded in April, 2012
recording, editing, mixing: track 9 Dirk Bewig
mastering: track 9 Dirk Bewig
recording place: Dastonstudio24, Berlin
recorded in January- February, 2004
recording: tracks 10-14 Live performance
recording place: Goethe Institute in Athens
recorded in April, 2014
recording: track 15 Live performance
recording place: Megaro Mousikis in Thessaloniki
recorded in December, 2012
This second album in a series dedicated to the one of Greece’s leading composer, Alkis Baltas.
This album includes five works. In sophisticated "Suite" for piano, newer techniques, such as 12-tone elements and clusters, are combined with some traditional forms, such as those of canon and fugato. For the composition "Vision" extracts of melodies of Hildegard von Bingen were used, which composer processed in the computer in such a way to not be identified, and he mixed them with sounds of the wind, waves, and others. The sources of inspiration of the pieces of music which constitute the work "Greek Dialogues" are five very well-known dialogues which are connected inherently with Greek history and civilization. The work "Echoes", with the subtitle of the work "Memories from Our Folk Music", explains the intention of the composer not to create a composition with folklore character, but a modern work with distant rhythmic and melodic references to Greek folk music. These references are so short and fleeting that sometimes they are barely acknowledged.
The "Unknown Island" is, according to the composer, a lonely place which no one else knows, except for ourselves, and where our thought and imagination take shelter to live in dreams or what it cannot—or consciously avoids to—meet in real life. There are no pretenses, inhibitions, or compromises there, only the truth of our self.
These wonderful works are performed by ALEA III ensemble under the direction of Theodore Antoniou, dissonArt ensemble under the direction of Nikos Athineos, Vicky Stylianou (piano), Costas Anastassopoulos (violin) and violin duo, which consist of Spyros Gikontis and Eleni Petridou.
Product details
01. The Unknown Island for chamber ensemble [17:22]
Greek Dialogues for two violins
02. Prologue [01:31]
03. Hector and Andromache [05:23]
04. Theophilos and Kassiani [05:33]
05. Erotokritos and Aretousa [04:34]
06. North Wind and His Mother [02:59]
07. Karagiozis and Fatme [01:546]
08. Epilogue [01:32]
09.Vision for violin and tape [07:37]
Suite for solo piano
10. I [01:51]
11. II [00:42]
12. III [01:13]
13. IV [01:27]
14. V [02:27]
15. Echoes for chamber ensemble [09:17]
Total time: [65:38]