Abandonment & Ruin.  Becoming

This is a live recording of my trio "Sustaining Love", for bass clarinet, violin and piano, realized by the AMGA ensemble in Hong Kong.

As a genuine implementation of my own composition technique, called “Selective Subtraction of Tone and Rhythm material”, Sustaining Love refers to a method of creating the form of a piece based on a selective subtraction of pitches, rhythms, even dynamics and patterns. For the particular piece, I created a number of patterns for the bass clarinet and the violin and a chord sequence for the piano through a multi-layered process, which is a part of the same technique. Once this preliminary step was completed, the Selective Subtraction technique was implemented in the formed material, anew. It was then I realized that, what the first implementation gave was a pattern which was bringing persistently in my mind a continuous talk, a girl confessing to her lover her sustaining loyalty and love.

Sustaining Love (2015)

HBHR ABDB

Finally, my Second String quartet is here completed. Written for the Diotima quartet, it was performed on February 2, 2016 at York.


Programme note 

The Second String Quartet is a three-movement composition based primarily on texture transformation. In order for this to be achieved, several approaches are demonstrated, including harmonic permutation, melodic patterns, fluctuation of dynamics and extended playing techniques. 

The first movement is characterized by chord progressions, whereas the major textural characteristic of the second movement is timbre transformation on a sustained pitch (D). Throughout the movement the performers execute transmissions between bow positions and also different levels of bow pressure. Texture transformation results from the plethoric vertical juxtaposition of bow techniques against a background of fluctuating dynamics.

 Whereas timbre sonorities are the major structural components of the second movement, in the third movement the burden of development is carried primarily by overlapping melodic patterns, interrupted periodically by sff attacks and the sustained pitches of the opening. The patterns comprise individual melodic lines which coincide vertically in specific points throughout the movement. The alteration between individual lines and their convergence demonstrates thinning-thickening texture transformation. 

The two last movements come as a conclusion. The modest character of the fourth movement ends up in a severe, yet still uptight overeaction prepairing the listener for the wilder character of the fifth and final movement.

String Quartet No2 (2016)

Little Mass No. 2 is the second piece of a composition cycle I intend to realise. The most striking characteristic of these pieces is that although they are composed for small ensemble, they try to highlight sound mass as a primary textural feature. This is the driving force behind some choices I made in this piece, particularly with respect to dynamics and register.

Regarding the first of these parameters, the instruments rarely play in the same dynamic level at the same time. This happens precisely because we need a very equal dynamic balance in order to produce sound mass, but the three instruments used in the piece vary in terms of absolute dynamic level. A typical dynamic combination used extensively throughout the composition is the following:

Saxophone: pp, Accordion: mp, Cello: mp

The other parameter refers to the choice to have the instruments play in the same register. This creates a dizzying sound in which the individual lines become “meaningless as individual events” and are “subordinate to the total aural effect”; resulting in the desired sound mass.

The Little Mass No. 2 for tenor saxophone, accordion and cello was written specifically for the 2016 MIXTUR festival in Barcelona and is dedicated to the ensemble Regards.

Maï Toyama – Saxophone
Fanny Vicens – Accordion
Jeanne Maisonhaute – Cello

Little Mass No. 2, trio (2016)

String quartet performed by the Jackson Quartet in Queen's University, Belfast.
Thanks to Robbie O'Neill for the recording, and Yo Tomita for the photo.

"If we don't move, he can't see us" - The Jackson Quartet

Commissioned by The Outcry Ensemble with funds from the Ralph Vaughan Williams Trust.

Performed by The Outcry Ensemble cond. James Henshaw at Temple Church, May 9th 2017. Recorded by Coviello Music Productions. Engineer: Aaron Holloway-Nahum

Black Snow Falls

Black Snow Falls for 23 solo strings (2017)

507 Mechanical Movements

Opening of Life of Lines II

United Instruments of Lucilin, Rainy Days Festival, Luxembourg Nov. 2017

Life Of Lines II (Excerpt from Opening)

Avoidance is a short work for baritone saxophone, percussion, and piano. The basic idea for composing this piece is to connect the sound system of a language with music. By transforming each letter of the Greek alphabet and other speech sounds, in specific music sounds, I was attempting to create an algorithmic system which will be able to be used through the compositional process. In this cage, the sounds are based on the letters and words from a poem
'Αποφυγή' (Avoidance) by the Greek writer Iannis Ritsos. This composition strictly follows the
sounds of the words, and the punctuation marks, as well as the form of the poem, aiming to give its own interpretation.

First Performance by Trio Accanto at Impuls Academy, in György Ligeti Seal, Graz, Austria, 16 February 2017

Avoidance (2016)

Electronic Study (2018)

Vasiliki Legaki is a Greek composer within setting ranging from symphony orchestra and chamber music to solo and staging music. Her works have been performed in Europe and USA by diverse musicians, ensembles, and orchestras, including the guitarist Xuefei Yang, Trio Accanto, BBC Singers, Fidelio Trio, Angel Orchestra, and Orion Orchestra. Her music has been gained recognition  in several competitions and festivals, such as 32nd International Composition Competition of Alea III (Boston, USA), Sorodha International Composition Competition (Antwerp), Park Lane Group Young Artists Spring Series (London), Impuls Academy (Graz, Austria), Darmstadt Summer Festival (Germany). Vasiliki has studied musicology (Bmus) and music composition (Mmus) at Royal Holloway University of London with Helen Grime and Mark Bowden.

Avoidance (2016)

Vasiliki Legaki

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