(Irida 032)
The latest album by the distinguished and award-winning Greek composer George Kontogiorgos consists of two cycles of vocal works – the first is based on the works of Lord Byron and the second on contemporary Greek poetry.
For the first song cycle, “Lord Byron – The Beauty of a Greek”, the compositions are based on poems from various collections and letters, on excerpts from the poem "The Pilgrimage of Child Harold", a second song by Lord Byron, and on the ode of Dionysios Solomos dedicated to the poet. Through the poems that masterfully frame "the low-key, simple writing of the composer without extremes or unnecessary elements", we witness the life and work of this great Philhellene and hero of the revolution of 1821 from a fresh perspective. Leading Greek baritone Tassis Christogiannopoulos performs with the accompaniment of the Athenian Bridge String Quartet.
The second song cylcle, titled “The Affliction of Love” is a cycle of six songs by contemporary Greek poets, most of them friends of the composer. George Kontogiorgos began sketching the first songs in 1972, but his ardent desire to complete them, which tormented him intensely at times, was not fulfilled until thirty years later.