Visions of Azure by Apostolos Paraskevas

As the title suggests, it is a suite, a series of dances in imitation of the older form, only now the familiar dances of the baroque have been substituted by characteristic dances of Venezuela. The opening Preludio is followed by an energetic Danza negra in 6/8, a more lyrical Cancioní in 2/4 and a waltz (Vals) in a rugged 3/4 rhythm.

- Alexandros Kalogeras (b. 1962) composed Seven Visions in the Shade of Azure for Apostolos Paraskevas, on the occasion of the Second Guitar Congress-Festival of Athens of 1993. The sounds used are exceptionally Greek in color, like the clear blue of the sky and the sea that the title suggests. The piece is in the form of a rondo, seven variations on the same motive, and technically very challenging. In A lí aube du dernier jour (Dawn of the Last Day), Francis Kleynjans relates the story of someone who is about to be executed in the guillotine during the French Revolution. The programmatic elements of this music are quite obvious to the listener: the piece starts with the sound of the seconds passing while in the cell, creating an atmosphere of suspense. The dawn comes and bells are heard; the guard opens the cell door (scratching), the steps of the guard (light strikes on the wood) blend with those of the prisoner, as the music becomes more and more anguished. The piece ends with the abrupt sound of the guillotine.

- Cuban guitarist and composer Leo Brouwer (b. 1939) is one of the first artists who have succeeded in fusing in their music the typical dance rhythms of his country with the avant-garde techniques of modern western music. The title of the first composition, La Espiral Eterna (The Eternal Spiral) alludes to the spiral of the universe, which becomes musically illustrated in the characteristic sound of an idea that continuously turns round itself. These minimalistic tendencies obviously stem from the composer's influences during his years of studies at the Juilliard School and the Hartt College of Music in the U.S., and are apparent in many compositions of this period. The piece ends with six seconds of complete silence.

- Elogio de la Danza (The Praise of Dance) was originally written to be choreographed and performed with the participation of a dancer. Here the composer returns to his experimental compositional approaches: the music begins with a single note (E) which returns many times throughout the piece, acting as a tonal and rhythmic ostinato, while the irregularity of the rhythm constitutes another important element of the work. A strike on the bridge, another feature characteristic of the second part of the piece, and an anguished last chord bring the work to a close.

- Slave Story (1992) is one of the first pieces where the composerís experimentation with novel guitar sounds becomes evident. In the words of Mr. Paraskevas, "with this piece I wished to give the listener as many unconventional and new sounds on the guitar as possible." In order to understand the function of the sounds used one has to be aware of the programmatic elements hidden behind the music. The story is that of a slave; first we hear the chains, represented by scratching of the nails on the strings, while immediately afterwards the leitmotiv of the slave is introduced. As the music grows faster, the slave is caught in a dream, where he is being pursued (musically illustrated by the strikes on the wood and other techniques that produce percussive sounds). This hectic effect culminates in the emancipation of the slave's mind, whereby he recalls sounds of the timpani that he used to hear when once free in his homeland. In order to achieve these different timpani-like sounds, the player has to cross the strings of the guitar in pairs, thus forming six different sounds of timpani, and improvise rhythmically on them. As the sound gradually fades out, the opening scratching of the string returns, bringing the slave out of his illusions and back to reality. The sound of the lowest note is not enough to lament on the slave's fate, so the performer has to start untuning the lowest string, until a very low and uncertain pitch is heard. At this point he lays the guitar flat, and, with the use of a Ping-Pong ball that he slides between the fourth and the fifth strings of the guitar he creates a sound that represents a dream, an escape from the reality. At the same time, however, the lamenting bass persists - that proves to be the only reality.

- Nadir (1994) is written for "prepared" guitar, a term usually associated with a piano in which certain objects have been placed on the strings in order to alter the conventional sound of the instrument. Many composers have written music for "prepared" piano, among them John Cage, who, according to Mr. Paraskevas, was the inspiration for his transferring of the same technique to the guitar. It is quite possible that nobody has used this kind of technique on the guitar before. After experimenting with various materials, he decided on the use of two metal paper clips, which he puts at specific locations on the fingerboard, so that they best produce the desired sound effect, a sound both harmonic and percussive. Nadir suggests the lowest point, here associated with the notion of death. The piece bears many programmatic references to the struggle between good and evil, life and death, musically portrayed in the persistent ostinato rhythms and the fragmented melodic phrases. Death cuts through in the form of an abrupt strike on the wood, the fingers continue to play but no sound is heard, until two more strikes make their movement stop. Little by little life and sound start again, but the final strike brings about the pessimistic message that fate and death predominate in the end. The piece ends with the inscription "...but sooner or later we live forever" - a final optimistic touch. Nadir was the outcome of continuous experimentation on the capabilities of the guitar as an instrument, and all the potential sound effects that one can draw from it.

- Chase Dance (1996) incorporates many elements of the Greek musical tradition, like the melodic and harmonic material of the introduction, played without notated meter. The slow introduction gradually evolves into a fast, agitated chase, as the title suggests. As the composer remarks, "the alternation of 5/8, 6/8, 7/8, and 9/8 meters increases the tension of the piece and the ënervesí of the performer as he approaches the end." At the peak of this frenzied dance the piece ends abruptly, as the result of a chase. The work was commissioned by and dedicated to David Starobin, who also gave its world premiere during the Bath International Music Festival in London.

Notes: Eftychia Papanikolaou

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