Georgios Axiotis (1875-1924)
Sunset (1923)
Prelude and Fugue (1914)
A Love Trilogy, Symphonic Impressions (1915)
Remembrance from a Ball (1915?)
Lyrical Intermezzo (1910s?)
Like a Game (1910s)
New Festival Opera-Symphony Orchestra Sofia/Byron Fidetzis
rec. 2003, Sofia, Bulgaria
Reviewed as 16-bit download from press preview
NAXOS 8.574353 [78]
Georgios Axiotis was born to a Greek family living in the Ukraine, though his birth was illegitimate – his mother was a Ukrainian servant of the family as his stepmother, Melpo Patuna, could not have children. After the family moved to Athens in 1887, Axiotis studied music there and in Naples, Italy. Highly critical of the Greek musical education establishment, Axiotis deplored the “Germanization” of music by the curriculum at the Athens Conservatory. He instead urged a pedagogy based on Greek folk music and expressing the “Mediterranean character.”
Listeners can judge how consistent in his convictions Axiotis remained with his own compositions from this disc, which contains the bulk of his surviving orchestral music.
Sunset is a piece of nature poetry without attempting overt naturalism in its depiction. Conductor Byron Fidetzis describes its style as “transnational” in his liner notes; that is, thoroughly Late Romantic with a touch of modal harmony. The orchestration is light and avoids congestion, however, even at its height and the conclusion is quite touching.
The Prelude and Fugue opens with the same sort of dreamy Late Romanticism, rising to greater and greater climaxes as the Prelude progresses. The Fugue subject is quirky, insisting on repeating a series of upward leaps before eventually stepping down to its conclusion. Axiotis’ interest in orchestral balance and timbre helps hold the listener’s interest through the contrapuntal twists and turns.
The set of Symphonic Impressions, referred to by Axiotis as A Love Trilogy, is the largest work on the disc. This is where his insistence on Greek models and techniques shines through. Axiotis described its program in a letter: “It is about a young man who meets his darling on the Mountain, in the Meadow and at the Dance.” The first movement, “On the Mountain,” turns to modal melody and harmony to describe this meeting in a broad, three-part form. Hushed brooding and lyrical reflection, contrasted with a central outburst of passion and an epic reprise, are its sequence of moods. The second movement, “On the Plain,” carries the emphasis on Greek musical models further by opening with a lengthy flute solo of modal construction. Similar passages for unison low strings, then solo oboe follow. The single-line monophonic texture creates paradoxical combinations of feelings – peacefulness and isolation, antiquity and timelessness. Axiotis then combines the melody with touches of counterpoint and harmony in ever-shifting instrumental colors of great delicacy. The eventual climax is restrained and noble. The title of the third movement, “At the Ball,” is something of a misnomer. This is a celebration of Greek folk music and dance, with neither waltz nor minuet in sight.
Remembrance of a Ball, on the other hand, is once again “transnational” in style. A waltz does indeed start up after the slow introduction, and carries the piece along. The title inspired a remembrance of Polish composer Mieczyslaw Karlowicz’s Episode at a Masquerade, noted also by my MusicWeb colleague Rob Barnett (review) though the similarity is short-lived. Axiotis is lighter in mood, with a delicate touch and a slower step. Karlowicz (1876-1909) is more brilliant in style, and dramatic, not to say dynamic, in effect. The two composers were contemporaries, nevertheless, and shared not only a penchant for strong ideological stances on music but also the tragedy of an early death. For Axiotis it was illness and for Karlowicz, probable suicide in an avalanche.
The Lyrical Intermezzo is another Late Romantic effusion of chromatic harmony and harp glissandi with moments of greater than expected passion. The final piece has the intriguing title Like a Game. Axiotis transforms its relaxed, playful opening material into a surprisingly stern harder-edged mood and back again in this brief vignette.
The New Festival Opera-Symphony Orchestra sounds professional if a little rough-and-ready at times, with an occasional touch of screech to the strings’ highest register and some minor insecurity of ensemble at the climax of the Lyrical Intermezzo. The sound is slightly glassy, though this is only generally noticeable at high dynamic levels. There is no doubting the players’ commitment, however, nor the passion of Byron Fidetzis, the project’s indefatigable leader, who not only led the orchestra but also restored and edited each work on the program as well as writing the liner notes. His previous projects recording works by Skalkottas (review), Kalomiris (review), Kalafati (review), and Petridis (review) attest to his unflagging energy in promotion of Greek music.
In spite of his educational polemics, Axiotis was a lover, not a fighter. If his largely lyrical and occasionally epic musical voice appeals, go for this disc. Others may find his dramatic wattage a little too low.
Christopher Little
Previous review:
Rob Barnett
