The Transcription Ensemble was formed in 2007 by Yorgos Kandylidis, Christos Grimpas and Nikos Zafranas, three successful soloists who belong to the new generation of highly regarded Greek musicians, enjoying frequent public performances with solo recitals and chamber music concerts in Greece and many other European countries.
Engagements include the appearance with the Karlovy Vary Orchestra in Prague (2016), the live broadcasting of Martinu’s Concertino for Piano Trio & String Orchestra with the National Symphonic Orchestra of the Greek Television (2015), recording for the Classical (3d) Program of the Greek National Radio, concert tours in Greece, Poland and Romania, residency at the Thessaloniki Concert Hall, performances at the Athens Megaron, the Thessaloniki State Museum of Contemporary Art, the “Dimitria” Festival, the Nafplion festival, the International Classical Music Festival of Cyclades, the Rhodes International Music Days, the National Gallery of Athens, the R??anego Ogrodu Sztuki Festival in Szczecin, Poland, the Yasar University in Izmir, Madrid Reina Sofia Museum, London Tate Modern etc.
Through its performances, the Ensemble aspires to present celebrated chamber music masterpieces alongside lesser-known works, such as Russian constructivism music or the considerable repertoire of works transcribed for small ensemble, which fulfilled the need of audiences to be introduced to great compositions before the widespread use of recordings. Masterpieces such as certain Mozart symphonies transcribed by his pupil J. N. Hummel as well as selected transcriptions of L.V. Beethoven’s works, form part of the Ensemble’s large repertoire.
Bookshop: 11:00-20:45
Manege Café: 11:00-20:30
Transcription Ensemble concert: Genii Loci Closing Event
9 January 2017
19:00 — 20:30
Program
Nikos Skalkottas (1904 – 1949)
3 Greek Dances from the collection of 36 Greek Dances (1931-1936), transcribed for Piano Trio
· Epirotikos
· Kretikos
· Kleftikos
Yannis Konstantinidis (1903-1984)
Dodecanese Suite (Petite Suite sur des airs populaires Grecs du Dodecanese) for Violin and Piano, (1948)
· Andante lento
· Allegretto scherzando
· Con moto e quasi parlando-Allegretto semplice
· L’ istesso tempo
· Andante mesto
· Andante lento
Solon Michaelides (1905 – 1979)
Greek Suite for Violoncello and Piano (1966)
I. Allegretto
II. Andantino
III. Lento dolente
IV. Allegro non troppo e giocoso
Konstantions Grigoriou (1974-)
Aurora for Piano Trio (2011)
Allegro moderato – Allegro – Andante tranquillo – Allegro energico
Paul Juon (1872 – 1940)
Piano Trio Op. 60, in G minor (1915)
I. Moderato assai
II. Andante cantabile
III. Risoluto, ma non troppo allegro
Program notes
Nikos Skalkottas was a Greek composer of 20th-century, a member of the Second Viennese School, who drew his influences from both the classical repertoire and the Greek tradition. The most striking example of his commitment to Greek folk music is the series of 36 Greek Dances composed for orchestra between 1931 and 1936 based on genuine Greek folk themes from different parts of the Greek mainland and islands, but also using material of Skalkottas's own composition in folk style. Yannis Konstantinidis was born in Smyrna in 1903. He came to Greece after the destruction of Smyrna and continued his studies in Berlin (1923–1931) where he was also a student of Paul Juon. He returned to Athens and worked as a conductor and composer at the musical theatre composing many operettas, musical comedies and revues and enjoyed great popularity and fame. His “Dodecanese Suite” is a typical example of the Greek national school compositions where folk themes are integrated into elegant classical compositions. Composer Solon Michaelides had a charismatic personality enjoying the glamour of a world wide reputation, having dominated the music world in both Cyprus and Greece. Michaelides played a determining role in the musical life of Thessaloniki where reputed Greek and foreign artists visited Thessaloniki, accepting his invitation to collaborate with or conduct the State orchestra. As a composer, he uses a lot of the specific features of the Greek music -both the ancient and the Byzantine one- together with the unique tone and the prominent rhythms of the Cypriot folk music, all of which can be heard in his Greek Suite. Modern Greek composer Konstantinos Grigoriou was born in Athens in 1974. The minimalistic aura of his piano trio “Aurora” is a result of economical theme use, persistent and repetitional patterns. During its 4 parts, the listener can experience lyric themes in the strings, asymmetric continuous and melodic motives that widen the polyphony and a degrading ending of the whole theme thurough an intense rhythmical motif. Paul Juon was a Russian-Swiss composer. He was born in Moscow, entering the Moscow Conservatory in 1889, where he studied violin with Jan H??mal? and composition with Anton Arensky and Sergei Taneyev. He completed his studies at the Hochschule f?r Musik in Berlin. During his time in Berlin he was a composition professor, employed by Joseph Joachim. His works include sonatas for viola, cello, winds, violin, four symphonies and also a chamber symphony, four string quartets, several piano trios, piano quartets and piano quintets as well as one sextet for piano and strings from 1902 and a wind quintet, a number of concerted works including three violin concerti and a triple concerto with piano trio, many piano works and lieder, and a number of stage works including an opera Aleko. His younger brother Konstantin Yuon was a notable painter. The third piano trio in G-Major (op. 60) was composed in Berlin in 1914/15 and was dedicated to the couple J.H. Block. The second movement belongs to the most mature and deepest moments in Juon's oeuvre where an almost literal citation of the beginning of opus 39 appears. The third movement, a Rondo with a somewhat grotesque character, reflects perhaps the effects of the First World War, which was being waged at the time it was composed. The impact of this and the collapse of the old world order can be clearly observed in the evolution of Juon’s work.