Works

SOLO

Brise de mer (2014-2015) – is a single movement piano piece inspired by the place where I grew up. In this work I portrayed the two sides of a sea breeze. The warm, calm and fresh summer sea breeze is illustrated through a consonant theme that could go on forever. The theme develops and then fades away like a far away echo. The second theme is chromatic, substantially more dissonant and stormy. As the theme develops it exploits the entire piano range, going from the lowest register to the highest one in a matter of seconds. This was my idea of suggesting that the sea breeze can be as sharp as a knife during the winter. The coda brings both themes in a reconciliatory way. It was the first piece written during my PhD studies.

Sonatina for piano (2019-2020) – is a three movement work that starts from mozartesque but modal themes in the first movement but then goes into other musical landscapes. The first movement can be described as joyful, energetic and amusing with two contrasting musical themes that create a modified version of sonata-allegro form. The second movement is a dark and a rather grotesque based on two themes that explore the hidden facets of darkness. The third movement uses the themes from the first movement but is a continuation of the second movement in terms of the mood.

CHAMBER

Elementa for duduk and string quartet (2015-2016) – is a four movements piece inspired by the nature’s four elements, each movement representing one of the elements, Aqua, Aeris, Ignis and Terra. It was written as part of my PhD progress work. The duduk plays a central role in this work and the main purpose of its use was to put it in a different light and with different textures. The first movement, Aqua, is a dialogue like melody disputed between the string quartet and the duduk. The accompaniment is mostly in pizzicato. Aeris, the second movement, is centered around a heterophony that appears and vanishes like strong cold winds from Siberian taiga or desert storm winds. Ignis is the third movement and illustrates its polyphonic texture the way fire spreads everywhere and it grows more and more. Terra, the last movement, uses duduk in A low register combined with strings strikes that are present althrough the movement that represent the eartquakes.

Hiraeth for duduk and seven instruments (2016-2017) – is a single movement piece inspired by the meaning of the title, which is the feeling of longing, of missing someone, something or some place. It has two distinct musical themes united through a duduk cadenza at the middle of the piece. The first theme is constructed in a polyphonic manner with slight inserts of medieval chant “Dies irae” that appear from time to time. The first section is spiced with some percussion moments. The second theme is very rhythmical and percussive with a lot of extended techniques presented. These two musical themes are united in the coda of the piece.

ORCHESTRA

Noiseopolis for percussion, synthesizer and orchestra (2009-2010) – the city of noise, in a free translation is one of the earliest pieces. It has three movements and the percussion is the main element. The first movement builds up to a climax where the deafening noise of the city and its inhabitants are just getting louder and louder while the synthesizer plays a clubbing bass like melody to ilustrate the sonic chaos. The second movement is a dreamy-esque lento where the bassoon takes up the soloistic role with iron percussions and other woodwind and brass instruments are creating some moody atmosphere. The third movement brings back the chaos on a drum&bass beat played by the big drums, tom toms and timpanis.

Suite No. I for orchestra (2014) – is a piece inspired by impressionism and symphonic jazz that dominated the film music scene in the first half of the twentieth century. It has an ABA form, with a comic like atmosphere. It blends multiple popular dances like waltz, habanera, ragtime and uneven time signature dance called geampara. It creates a very pitoresque and vivid sound world through the tonal and diatonic modal scales.

Suite No. II for orchestra (2014) – has a palindrome structure (ABCBA) and it covers a more vast palette of moods through its musical themes. Diving into the modal and chromatic scales, I have created a mosaic like sonic world. The rhythmic, melodic and harmonic voyage goes from humoresque, despair, epic and rêverie. The instrument mix and textures are very peculiar and they bring their own flavor to the whole piece.

Concerto for duduk and strings orchestra (2017) – it was written in a rather neoclassical manner. It is a three movements work using the Olivier Messiaen’s limited transposition modal scales. The first movement (Allegro non troppo) has an AB structure with a short recapitulation of A. At the end of the B section is a short cadenza played by the duduk. The second movement (Largo) is written using the heterophony. After the theme is played by both the duduk and the orchestra, the duduk builds a development of the theme on top of the polyphonic voices. The third movement (Allegro molto) is written in an even time signature (10/8) with a cadenza played by the duduk at the end of the first theme. The second theme was built using the technique of musical blocks competing with the delicacy of the duduk.