Euphrosyne - Keres - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

Morus is an experiential concept album inspired by the true story of the loss of Alex Despotidis's Mother from cancer on 2017. The narration begins with the realization of death and the feelings surrounding it until the final embrace, continues with the existential question Inchwhat happens after all comes to passInch and the depiction of pain and suffering. It moves forward towards the acceptance of the image of the person who is losing the battle and the last journey forwards the Asphodel Meadows, the section of the ancient Greek underworld where the majority of souls were sent to live after death. The music has been written by Alex Despotidis and the lyrics by Efi Eva, the mixing and mastering by Psychon (Septicflesh) and the artwork, as well as the photo shooting of the band, by Dimitris Tzortzis.

This recording has been designed to introduce works for violin and piano by Greek composers or composers of partial Greek descent, whose works were inspired and shaped far from their place of birth by the influences and cultural trends of their new environments. Boris Papandopulo was based in the former Yugoslavia and his music is infused with Balkan folk music elements as displayed by his Sonata while the Meditation, which opens this recording, is infused with an elegiac atmosphere inspired by the Dalmatian coast. Dinos Constantinides lived for more than 50 years in the United States. While his Sonata for violin and piano uses the twelve-tone technique it is at the same time characterized by long sweeping melodies. Dimitri Terzakis' Sonate infernale was inspired by the reading of Dante's Divine Comedy. Dedicated to violinist Danae Papamattheou-Matschke, Sprüche i'm Wind is an aphoristic cycle made of miniatures displaying short melodic ideas which can be seen as a poetic distillation of his sonata. One of the most versatile Greek musicians of the twentieth century, Yannis Constantinidis composed his Suite on popular Greek songs from the Dodecanese based on authentic melodies and folk dances richly harmonized with an almost impressionistic sensitivity to which improvisational embellishments are added.

The Ukrainian pianist Dmytro Choni, winner of the 2018 Paloma O'Shea Santander International Piano Competition, has selected a programme that spans the 20th century. The first book of Debussy's Images offers poetic evocation and virtuoso caprice, whereas Prokofiev's Piano Sonata No. 6, completed in 1940, is the first of his 'War Sonatas', characteristically contrasting rhythmic vitality with rich lyricism. Ginastera, too, supplies vivid intensity in his Piano Sonata No. 1 suggesting the sound of the guitar, while Ligeti's Étude is a Debussyian evocation of a rainbow. Dmytro Choni was born in Kyiv, Ukraine in 1993, and received his first piano lesson at the age of four. In addition to his victory at the 2018 Paloma O'Shea Santander International Competition, he is also a laureate of many prestigious competitions such as the Ferruccio Busoni International Piano Competition (Italy, 2017) and International Piano Competition in Memory of Vladimir Horowitz (Ukraine, 2017). In2019 he received the Vendome Prize at the Verbier Festival in Switzerland.