Kiveli Dorken - Apollo & Dionysus - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

Pianist Danae Dörken is embarking on a musical journey on April 22, 2022, her new album InchOdysseeInch will be released by Berlin Classics. The repertoire is a varied selection and leads the listener through different eras. Among them are well-known classics by Franz Liszt or Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, but also works that the pianist associates with her Greek origins, for example by Manos Hatzidakis and Vangelis. InchOdysseeInch is about traveling, wandering and dreaming. InchThe Odyssey has fascinated me from a very young age. Even as a child, it was read to me as a bedtime story by my grandparents, Inch Danae Dörken says. She knows the various stages of the journey inside out. InchFor me, it's a very current story. I think we're going through a modern odyssey. That's what I want to show with this album.Inch

Diminutions, the art of extemporary embellishment or melodic variation, were an essential part of performance practice of the Renaissance and early Baroque periods. The basis of diminutions is the fragmentation of a long note or series of long notes into many shorter and faster ones that move around the original melody. In the 16th and early 17th centuries, a composition as written by the composer was often regarded as raw material and it was normal and even required of musicians to embellish the works performed. The number of treatises that were devoted to the teaching of this subject is a clear indication of the importance of diminutions at that time. Most of these manuals included a collection of decorated melodies taken from renowned madrigals, motets and chansons by well-known composers of the time. These pieces give us clear examples of how music was performed during that time and what was considered the proper way to embellish a piece of music. Often technically demanding, these pieces gave scope for virtuoso display as they required great dexterity from the performer. In conclusion, diminutions were added to make a piece of music more 'beautiful'. This album explores the widespread practice of diminutions by presenting published examples of diminutions on well-known motets, by master composers; diminutions on popular melodies or dance forms and finally, diminutions composed by the performer as artist.

Famous from an early age as a child prodigy, Philippa Duke Schuyler (1931-1967) had written numerous compositions and toured on five continents by the time she was twenty-three. She travelled extensively in Africa, often studying the local music traditions. Aspects of this potentially appear in The Seven Pillars of Wisdom. The work was influenced by T.E. Lawrence's similarly-titled memoir. Dr. Masterson received a B.A. in physics and a Performer's Certificate from DePauw University, and a M.M. and D.M.A. in piano performance from the University of Connecticut. Her recent research involves the work of twentieth-century American women composers, and her doctoral research focused on the use of sonata form in mid-twentieth-century American piano sonatas.