April 2013

Piano: Fumiko Miyachi, Vibraphone: George Kirkham (May 2013)

Program Notes

Based on fragments from a “stasimon chorus” (standing chorus) of the ancient Greek tragedy “Orestes” dated back to 408 B.C. The music was composed by Euripides himself and it is one of the rare examples of ancient music. In this piece the fragments appear in a free contrapuntal way, with each interval of the original melodic lines stretched, in terms of pitch, throughout the ranges of the two instruments. Combined with the extended use of pedal, they aim to create a highly resonating result, as if someone standing in the center of an ancient theatre could hear the fragments travelling from the past; faint at the beginning, they become denser, overlap with each other and begin at random instances of time to create an indefinite and resonant soundscape. The rhythm of each fragment is based on the pattern “U— —” (“U=short, — =long) emerging from the “dochmiac” ancient poetic rhythm appearing in this part of “Orestes”, and which was used in passages of “intense agitation and grief”. The standard form of this rhythm “U— – U –” is kept like an ostinato on the “E” note, obsessively repeating throughout the piece.

In the stasimon, the women of Argos implore the gods to have mercy on Orestes and free him from the state of madness he is in after murdering his mother Clytemnestra for infidelity to his father, Agamemnon. The poetry is translated as follows: “You wild goddesses who dart across the skies seeking vengeance for murder, we implore you to free Agamemnon’s son from his raging fury….We grieve for this boy. Happiness is brief among mortals. Sorrow and anguish sweep down on it like swift gust on a sloop, and it sinks under the tossing seas” (Orestes: Stasimon Chorus, lines 338-44)

Orestes' Fragments (for Piano & Vibraphone) - April 2013

String Trio: Elsabe Raath (viola), Anna Maria Olsson (violin), Mary Chapman (cello)

Winning piece of the Birmingham Chamber Music Society (BCMS) 2014 prize.

Peter Woodthrope, who played Estragon in Beckett's play 'Waiting for Godot', remembered asking him one day in a taxi what the play was really about: 'It's all symbiosis, Peter; it's symbiosis,' answered Beckett. (source: Wikipedia)

“Symbiosis” is a term used to describe the co-existence of two or more organisms in a closely interacting and mutually beneficial way. This piece attempts to give a musical impression of this kind of interaction. It is reflected on the use of the instruments as individual “organisms” moving towards or apart from each other, separating or coming together, constantly in a search of balance amongst them.

symbiosis (for String Trio) - Feb 2014

Voice: Suzie Purkis, Saxophones: Syzygy Quartet (Live at Birmingham Conservatoire - April 2014)

Words taken from various sweatshop workers' interviews from all over the world.

A special thank you to the performers for producing a decent result in the concert within an extremely limited amount of rehearsal time.

-The piece:

A sweatshop worker of a "developing" (sic) country describes the reality she has to face everyday, living in an environment on which she has small or no control. 

It is a system that extends beyond the humiliation she faces in her everyday life, as her reality is often distorted, covered, muted, cut, sliced and put together by those who benefit by this exploitation, giving a false image of normality and even a moral justification to the suffering and indignity in the everyday life of workers like her. 

Her words interrupted, “censoring” fragments of the text in a simplistic, almost ridiculous attempt to alter and even reverse the meaning of her words. 

Homo Economicus (for Female Voice and Sax Quartet) - Mar 2014

phi structure I: workshopped by Birmingham Contemporary Music Group (BCMG) on Jan 2015

phi structure II: workshopped by Birmingham Conservatoire Gamelan Class 2014-15 on Mar 2015

phi structure III: wonderful MIDI playback by Finale 2014

'Phi structures' is a series of experimental works on the concept of the golden section.

The Concept:
Since ancient times, this ratio has been claimed to possess certain unique properties by numerous theoreticians from different fields. (Scientists, philosophers, artists, well-being “gurus” etc.)

The Experiment: 
The aim of this experimental piece is to test the validity of theories around the aesthetic and perceptual properties of the ratio, by enabling the listener to observe critically, and decide whether or not, and to which degree these qualities are present in the musical experience.

The Composition Process: 
The ratio of the golden section has been applied as consistently and extensively as possible throughout different parameters of the music, with a particular focus on the time-based proportions (i.e. duration and tempo). 
Changes in blocks of pitch material, various orchestrational decisions and other combinations, aim to highlight these proportions. 
Decisions and additions based on personal taste, aesthetics or intuition have been brought down to a minimum or avoided completely. Any decision not directly connected to the concept was made to maintain a level of clarity that will enable the listener’s perception to remain undisturbed by additional information, in order to focus on the changes that highlight the ratio's proportions.

phi structure II (for Gamelan Ensemble) - Feb 2015

phi structure I (for Small Ensemble) - Jan 2015

phi structure III (for Small Ensemble) - MIDI PLAYBACK - Apr 2015

Piano Trio: Schubert Ensemble

This miniature piece was selected by the Schubert Ensemble of London for the 2015 Chamber Music Festival concert, as part of their 'miniature pieces' commission scheme.

Photo: http://www.moorhen.me.uk/iodsubject/birds_-_magpie_06.htm

a magpie and a pigeon debate over breadcrumbs (for Piano Trio) - Feb 2015

THIS IS THE NATIONAL ANTHEM OF NATIONAL ANTHEMS

Choir: Via Nova

NATIONAL ANTHEM (for Chamber Choir) - Oct 2014

Piano: Fumiko Miyachi

Live performance from Fumiko Miyachi in April 2016 (Recital Hall, Birmingham Conservatoire)

unfollow (for Piano & Tape) - Dec 2015

Photo credit/source: Antonio Masiello / Zuma Press (http://www.zumapress.com/srp.html?photoName=Antonio+Masiello&cktst=1)

This piece combines spoken voice excerpts from found material (YouTube videos) with instruments from electronic libraries (organ, music box). 
Derived from the subject of refugees’ journeys to Europe. Each different section dictated the choice of the audio excerpts.

Bread. Calm. Scum. Human. (Electroacoustic) - May 2016

Performed by Gigi Magnozzi (viola) and Claudio Lisci (double bass) at Birmingham Conservatoire on February 22, 2017

(picture credit: Ji Hoon Lee | Flickr)

Glitches (for Viola and Double Bass) - Nov 2016

Born in Athens (Greece). UK-based composer.

Τolis Alysandratos

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