DINO MASTROYIANNIS Concert Pianist
Audio
All the audio files below are excerpts from Dino's new CD "Zorba's Dance-Greek Music for Solo Piano"
MIKIS THEODORAKIS: Zorba's Dance- Mikis Theodorakis is the most important and popular living Greek composer, known internationally for his score for the film "Zorba the Greek". Theodorakis’ Zorba’s Dance from the film Zorba the Greek became an international hit and remains a popular symbol of Greece - despite the film’s setting in Crete! The piece begins with a slow intricate tune, based around an inevitable toe-tapping beat. As the music progresses, the foot tapping along with the beat gets faster and faster.
- MANOS HADJIDAKIS: Folklore paintings (excerpts)
- Winner of a 1962 Academy Award for “Best Music” for his song Never on Sunday from the film of the same name, Manos Hadjidakis was one of the most popular Greek composers in his day. In 1951, he performed solo piano adaptations of rebetika songs entitled “Six Folklore Paintings”. These new interpretations provided a general audience an opportunity to enjoy and appreciate the beauty and richness inherent in the originals, while at the same time giving new impetus to Greek song writing.
- YIANNIS KONSTANTINIDIS: 44 Miniatures on original Greek folk tunes (selection)
- Yiannis Konstantinidis studied in Berlin with Kurt Weil. Modest, precise and laconic - the very opposite of the expressive nature of Kalomiris - Konstantinidis uses folk melodies as they exist, without elaboration or development. His compositions for piano demonstrate a profound knowledge of the instrument’s potential, have a solid structure, unique richness of harmony and variety of soundimages that often bring to mind the sound of folk instruments.
- MANOLIS KALOMIRIS: Nocturne
- Manolis Kalomiris was the effective leader of the modern Greek “national school”. His activities as composer, author, teacher, critic and manager shaped Greek musical life to a considerable extent during the first half of the 20th century. A passionate composer, he has a personal post-romantic idiom characterized by rich harmonies and orchestrations, complex counterpoint, long Eastern melodies and the frequent use of Greek folk rhythms. His works for solo piano constitute a small part of his work and were written mostly early in his life.
- MANOS HADJIDAKIS: Ionian Suite (excerpts)
- Hadjidakis’ Ionian Suite, the score of which was discovered only a short time before his death, was likely composed to honor two great Ionian poets: Andreas Kalvos (1792-1869) and Dionysios Solomos (1798-1857). It was presented as a ballet by the Greek Chorodrama in 1960.
- JOHN PSATHAS: Waiting for the Aeroplane
- John Psathas is widely considered one of the most important living composers of the Greek Diaspora. His music has been commissioned and performed by many of the greatest musicians and orchestras around the world.
The composer writes on Waiting for the Aeroplane: “This piece captures a time when I was traveling to Greece to visit my family (who had recently returned to live there). The emotional farewells, the distance between the two countries, the power of aircraft and the frenetic activity of airports all managed to find their way into the piece.
- MANOS HADJIDAKIS: For a little white seashell (excerpts)
- “For a little white seashell” is an “anti-romantic” work, according to the meaning of the phrase given by Copland and Prokofiev through their music. The intentional exaggerations in interpretation and arbitrary choices of rhythm ridicule the interpreter, and ruin the musical essence of the work. The piece was also staged as a ballet by the Greek Chorodrama in 1957.
- YIANNIS KONSTANTINIDIS: 8 Greek Island Dances (excerpts)
- MIKIS THEODORAKIS: Prelude No 1 & Finale from the "Petite Suite" (excerpts)
- YIANNIS KONSTANTINIDIS: 22 Dodecanesian Songs and Dances (excerpts)
- SAINT-SAËNS: 4th Piano Concerto (1st extract from the 1st Movement)
- Piano Concerto No. 4 in C minor (concerto pour piano en ut mineur), op. 44 by Camille Saint-Saëns, is the composer's most structurally innovative piano concerto. It follows the typical concerto format of three movements, but the central Andante section is usually attached seamlessly to the preceding Allegro moderato. In fact, the entire work can be played as a unified whole. It is technically divided into two sections:
1) Allegro moderato - Andante
2) Allegro vivace - Andante - Allegro
- SAINT-SAËNS: 4th Piano Concerto (2nd extract from the 1st Movement)
- SAINT-SAËNS: 4th Piano Concerto (1st extract from the 2nd Movement)
- SAINT-SAËNS: 4th Piano Concerto (2nd extract from the 2nd Movement)
