Six Songs, Op. 37 (1975)

Description:

The Six Songs, Op. 37, based on the verses of contemporary Greek poets, are a series of “characteristic” pieces composed with the intent of creating a kind of theatrical lied, where the purely audiovisual elements of the performance claim an equal role alongside the music and the poetry, aiming to enhance the emotional receptivity of the audience.

Viewed from this perspective, the various technical and expressive means, from whispering and muttering to inarticulate cries and the unexpected finale of the last song, acquire their own significance and lend the performance expressive dimensions, at least objectively, unknown to both music and poetry.

Moreover, my intention was to absolutely respect both the poetic texts and the technical capabilities of the voice, even though, occasionally, for purely expressive reasons, these capabilities might be pushed to their extreme limits.

-This is a near-verbatim translation of Sicilianos’s Greek text.