Mikis THEODORAKIS (b.1925)
Echowand lieder (songs by Mikis Theodorakis
re-arranged for voice and piano by Sebastian Schwab and translated into
German by Ina Kutulas)
1. Wildwaches Land [3:33]
2. Nihtoni [3:37]
3. Einsame Reise
[3:41]
4. Medeas Entsagung [3:24]
5. Vergiftete Zeit [3:27]
6. Wie
geheimnisvoll schön meine Liebste ist [5:30]
7. Fortunas Gewässer
[3:43]
8. All meine Habe [5:27]
9. Ufterloses meer [4:01]
10.
Esmeralda [3:26]
11. Oft sprichst du zu mir [4:57]
12. Abscheid
[3:55]
13. Betörendes Lied [3:52]
Johanna Krumin (soprano)
Markus Zugehör (piano)
Peter Schöne
(baritone, 2), Sebastian Schwab (flute, 2)
rec. Studio 2 Bavarian Radio, Munich, Germany, 15-17 October 2013 and 8
April 2014
WERGO WER51202 [52:34]
Most people who hear the name of Mikis Theodorakis will instinctively
associate it with Zorba’s Dance. Many more will think of Greek folk music in
general. Others may know of the theme music he wrote for the popular
political film “Z”
and for Serpico. Some will know of his stand against the coup of 21 April 1967 and
the seven years Greece spent under authoritarian rule of Colonel Giorgios
Papadopoulos who jailed the composer. To all those who are unaware of his
many symphonic and chamber compositions this disc will give a completely new
and different view of a composer of at least one thousand songs.
What we have here are Theodorakis’ melodies in the shape of 13 songs that
the incredibly talented and extremely young composer/conductor and violinist
Sebastian Schwab (b. 1993) has re-imagined in a more atonal setting. The
music complements the German translations by Ina Kutulas of the original
Greek songs written by seven poets. It is such a shame that English
translations have not been included as they would have given many listeners
a better understanding of what Theodorakis and the poets were trying to
express. As it is I can only say that the songs are both beautiful and
intriguing. The latter is made all the more so because of the lack of
translation which inevitably results in frustration. It is equally
frustrating not to be able to refer to the songs in their original format
since we are unable to glean to what extent Sebastian Schwab has arranged
them. An air of melancholy pervades most so, knowing Theodorakis, it would
seem he chose poems that tell of oppression and resistance as he did in his
music for the film State of Siege and when he set the poems of
Pablo Neruda in Canto General.
These are wonderfully evocative and while the songs can be enjoyed for
their own sake I really hope that one day someone will record them with
complete translations included. It’s only a pity it wasn’t this version that
did so since it was the singer Johanna Krumin who originally conceived the
whole project that the then 19 year old Sebastian Schwab so elegantly
brought to fruition. Krumin’s beautiful soprano voice conveys a degree of
fragility that so perfectly reflects the heartbreak that clearly lies at the
core of many of these songs. That Theodorakis was so thrilled by the result
of a project that was effectively a ninetieth birthday present to him says
it all.
Steve Arloff
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