Petros PETRIDIS (1892-1977)
Requiem for the Emperor Constantine Palaiologos (1953-1964) [1:21:23]
Symphony No. 3 in D minor “Parisian” (1941-43/1944-46) [30:43]
Concerto Grosso for Winds and Timpani, Op. 11 (1929) [16:57]
Sophia Kyanidou (soprano), Theodora Baka (mezzo-soprano), Angelo Simos (tenor), Christoforos Stamboglis (bass)
Golden Voices of Ruse, Sofia Metropolitan Golden Voices,
Sofia Amadeus Orchestra, Nikolaos Mantzaros Wind Ensemble/Byron Fidetzis
rec. 1989, Studio Sierra, Athens, Greece (Concerto Grosso) and 2006 Bulgaria Hall, Sofia, Bulgaria (Requiem and Symphony)
Reviewed as 16-bit download from press preview
NAXOS 8.574354-55 [59:30 + 69:48]
Greek composer Petros Petridis led a peripatetic life. Born in Cappodocia, Turkey while a Cappodician Greek community still existed there, Petridis studied music in Constantinople before living briefly in Greece and volunteering for the Balkan Wars during 1912-1913. He took Greek citizenship but ultimately settled in France after further musical study in Paris. His self-described aim was to build a nationalist musical aesthetic on a foundation of Byzantine chant, Greek folk music, and interwar Neo-Classicism. His musical thinking was primarily horizontal – that is, interweaving multiple lines of melody to create counterpoint – rather than creating lush vertical pillars of chords.
Petridis’ obsession with intricate counterpoint underpins his Requiem. It is almost entirely contrapuntal, utilizing anywhere from two-part to eight-part musical textures. The four solo voices – soprano, alto, tenor, bass – and large choir sing almost continually in varying combinations while the orchestra spins its own musical lines around and between them. The result is an uncompromising work, with the bright shine of a Byzantine mosaic alongside a similar starkness of expression and formalized flatness of emotion. There is no hint of the humanist sympathy found in the Mozart, Brahms, or Verdi Requiems. This is not to say Petridis’ work lacks feeling. It is rather that Petridis is delineating at once a personal, institutional, and national tragedy. Constantine XI Palaiologos was the last Byzantine Emperor, killed during the siege of Constantinople in 1453. The 500th anniversary of the fall of the Byzantine Empire in 1953 was widely commemorated in Greece, inspiring Petridis to compose his Requiem. He also sought a fusion of Western Catholic and Eastern Orthodox practice by combining texts from both traditions’ funeral liturgies, bookended by ritual proclamations from the Byzantine court upon the death of an emperor. The liner notes acknowledge that Petridis’ music can be “difficult, sometimes harsh, deliberately dry and inaccessible.” It is also highly personal and repays repeated listening.
The Third Symphony and Concerto Grosso are easier entry points. The symphony is a wonderfully quirky mixture of modal Byzantine melodies and standard symphonic procedure. It is in four movements and scored for a classical orchestra: double woodwinds with piccolo, four horns, two trumpets, timpani, and strings. The first movement is in textbook sonata form, the slow second movement is lyrical, the third movement looks back to Haydn with a minuet, and the finale is light and lively. In fact, imagine a Greek Haydn and you will have a good idea of this symphony’s sound world. The “Byzantine” element shines through throughout – what an ear-twister to hear a Byzantine minuet! – and the entire work is a treat from beginning to end.
The Concerto Grosso is, if anything, even more fun. Its basis is the Baroque form of the same name, featuring the alternation of solo instruments with a larger ensemble. Many composers, from Martinů to Bloch, wrote works utilizing this form during the 1920s and 30s. Petridis’ Concerto Grosso has a bubbly and energetic first movement, an austere and powerful second movement, and a dancing third movement that concludes peacefully. It is much more obviously indebted to Greek folk music than the Requiem or Symphony and sounds like a cross between the Neo-Classical styles of Stravinsky and Skalkottas, albeit less dry than the former and less aggressive than the latter.
This is yet another album indebted to the indefatigable work of conductor and scholar Byron Fidetzis, credited with restoring and editing each work on this album. It joins other discs of his conducting on Naxos featuring the work of Greek composers Manolis Kalomiris (review review review), Vasily Kalafati (review review), and Spyridon Samaras, and discs on BIS featuring Nikos Skalkottas (review review). To present three major works by a largely unknown composer is a massive undertaking. The performers give their best; you can tell they believe in the project. Those who enjoy Greek music, particularly Skalkottas, those who enjoy unusual sacred music, and those curious to hear a very personal voice in twentieth century composition with connections to the Byzantine past, should not hesitate. The sound is good and the price is right.
Christopher Little
