Alismono ke Chairomai (2011)

for saxophone quartet

5.5 minutes

While my music is deeply embedded in contemporary developments in compositional thought, I have always sought to maintain an open dialogue with the music of the past. In particular, Greek music and various monophonic traditions of the East have exerted a strong influence on the evolution of my language.

One of the many Greek performance practices that influenced my language is that of heterophony. I am especially interested in heterophonic songs from Northwestern Greece, a genre also common in many areas of the Balkans, such as Albania and Bulgaria. Such songs are performed by at least four singers, each one with a distinct role: the ‘partis’, who sings the melody, the ‘klostis’ or ‘gyristis’, who embellishes the melody; and the two ‘isocrates’, who sustain and improvise short figures on the pedal tones of the melody. The simultaneous interaction of these parts, each one with a degree of autonomy, creates a fascinating complex polyphony that emanates organically from the melodic line.

‘Alismono ke Cherome’ [I forget and I rejoice], is a famous song from Northwestern Greece that belongs to this genre. As is typical of many songs from the area, it refers to the painful separation caused by the migration of a family member. My setting merges a quasi-literal transcription of the song for four saxophones with a personal reaction, expressed in my own idiom.

This work was commissioned and premiered by the PRISM Saxophone Quartet.

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