"O Solitude" - Song by Henry Purcell 
Orchestration and Music Direction by Alexandros Gkonis
Soprano : Lito Messini 
National Radio Symphony Orchestra of Greece (ERT)

''O Solitude'' - Alexandros Gkonis after Henry Purcell

Notes from Underground by Nikos Galenianos

Some months ago Alexandros Gkonis, a Greek composer sent me a melody (the one that starts the song) along with a choir of voices that he improvised. I asked him if I could record the melody again, and turn this into a new song so now here it is. Inspired by this melody I wrote and sang lyrics, recorded back vocals and voices, added a bass, recorded multiple other synths and rhythmics. 

Produced by blondie.g.d.
Lyrics by blondie.g.d. 

Lyrics: 
Oh Lord aren't you keen on killing boys deep in the black sea
I might be old but I don't die
because I'm waiting to get seen

Oh Good Lord aren't you mad
when bones are buried in the land
You have forgotten that you owe me
a place inside your big blue gold

When trees are grey and wrapped in dew 
I place my hopes inside you
inside your house and then I pray
and fly my body over to the bay
Oh let it be my grave
Oh let it be my grave

I for my own happiness
decide on being fearless
I for my own happiness
decide on being fearless

Love and death can never grow old
but both can make hot water go cold
sometimes I feel my blood go cold inside
When our people get lost 
we duck-tape the spiritual cause
we move our bodies back and forth inside

Inside you know that every change
can be a stone onto your grave
Inside you know that you belong
where you conclude
Let it be my grave
Let it be my grave  

I for my own happiness
decide on being fearless
I for my own happiness
decide on being fearless

Water Bones

"Mein Sohn, was birgst du so bang dein Gesicht?" –
"Siehst, Vater, du den Erlkönig nicht?
Den Erlenkönig mit Kron und Schweif?" –
"Mein Sohn, es ist ein Nebelstreif."
                                from Goethe, Der Erlkönig, 1782


The so-called 'diminished seventh' chord has long fascinated composers.  In the Romantic era, this chord was particularly popular, with its 'wild-card' or 'shape-shifting' like behaviour, a symmetrical structure of perfect instability, with the ability to resolve to almost any chord.  Also interesting was the particular extra-musical association this chord came to represent: fear, anger, grief, discomfort, heartbreak, pain, etc. 

Nebelstreif adopts this chord as its main 'tonic'.  Rather like a soundscape of different sound-masses, the sole material used in the work consists of different permutations of the diminished seventh chord.  The particular emotion(s) that we associate with this chord, however, remain bound to the structure. The piece becomes therefore not only an exploration of sound, but also an exploration of a particular affect.   

The title comes from Goethe's poem Der Erlkönig where, in Schubert's setting, an almost naked diminished seventh chord serves a particularly important dramatic function at the end of the piece.

Dirk Luijmes, Organ (Verschueren, 3 manual)
Felipe Mora, André Ferreira, assistants. 

Recording date: November 13, 2014, Het Orgelpark, Amsterdam.

Nebelstreif (2014)

Gone

Plastic Island is a work composed in response the floating trash islands that are circulating in each of the world oceans. The piece is performed by the Os Ensemble choir and conductor, Raquel Klein,  and composed by Eve O'Donnell.  The piece was premiered at The Stone at The New School, New York in April 2019, and is part of a larger choral work written on the theme of human impact on the environment.

Plastic Island

Secondo Libro di Chitarra (Firenze 1655)
Home recording on a baroque guitar after Antonio Stradivari by Dirk De Hertogh(2012)

''O Solitude'' - Alexandros Gkonis after Henry Purcell

Alexandros Gkonis

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