‘Spyridon Samàras (1861–1917) was the first Greek composer to attain international significance. His operas were performed in major music centres throughout Europe, but his relatively early death during World War I and the subsequent rapid shifts in musical tastes caused his work to fall into obscurity. Over the past four decades, I have pioneered the effort of highlighting and re-evaluating Samaras’s work through performances and the gradual recording of his compositions.
His opera Tigra remained unfinished with only the first act partially completed. In 2009, I orchestrated this act, believing that it can also be performed as a single-act opera. Representing the mature period of Samaras’s career, Tigra also indirectly reflects his creative vision for the evolution of modern Greek music.’
– Byron Fidetzis
Spyridon SAMARAS (1861–1917)
Tigra 1
Epinikeia 2 • Chitarrata 3
Lenia Safiropoulou, Soprano 1Marissia Papalexiou 1, Varvara Tsambali 2, Maria Vlachopoulou 1, Mezzo-sopranos
Angelo Simos, Tenor 1 • Dionysios Sourbis, Baritone 1 • Dimitri Kavrakos, Bass 1
Sofia Metropolitan Golden Voices Mixed and Children’s Choir 1
Sofia Amadeus Orchestra 1
Fretted String Ensemble of the Corfu Music School 3
Pazardzhik Symphony Orchestra 2–3
Byron Fidetzis
Spyridon Samaras was the most internationally respected Greek composer of his time, yet it is only in recent years that some of his major works have been edited or orchestrated for performance. Tigra is a major case in point, a ravishing love story set in medieval Venice, and a product of Samaras’s operatic maturity. With its innovative harmonic language set to an Italian text, musical Orientalism and Franco-Italian influences it helped pave the way for the emerging Greek National School. It has been faithfully orchestrated by Byron Fidetzis. Epinikeia is reminiscent of Samaras’s famous Olympic Anthem of 1896, while Chitarrata is a youthful work composed in Paris.
Donna Palma
Soprano
Mezzo-soprano
Mezzo-soprano
Tenor
Baritone
Bass
Conductor
The Neoclassical Skalkottas
Sinfonietta in B flat major • Classical Symphony
Four Images • Ancient Greek March
Karampetsos
Athens State Orchestra • Tsialis
– Classical Music Daily
Requiem for the Emperor Constantine Palaiologos
Symphony No. 3 ‘Parisian’ • Concerto Grosso
Kyanidou • Baka • Simos • Stamboglis
Golden Voices of Ruse • Sofia Metropolitan Golden Voices
Sofia Amadeus Orchestra • Nikolaos Mantzaros Wind Ensemble
Fidetzis
– Gramophone
Shapes in Motion
Pyrrichios Dance No. 13: ‘Nemesis’ • Concerto-Rhapsody • Triptych
Grauwels • Spyridakis • Papatheodorou • Brussels Virtuosi
Brussels Philharmonic • Flanders Opera Symphony Orchestra
Tilkin • Abrath • Leonidakis
– MusicWeb International
Theodorakis • Skalkottas • Antoniou • Alexiadis • Tenidis • Hadjidakis
Kerkezos • Thessaloniki State Symphony Orchestra • Michailidis
– Fanfare