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about

ROMANZA
Acem Aşîrân saz semâî

This saz semâî was first performed in 2017 at the Palace of the Grand Master of the Knights of Rhodes by Mitos orchestra (shown below). Imagine a man, sitting in the courtyard of this hugely impressive castle, amidst a large audience, holding hands with the woman he loved for thirty years, listening to a piece that was inspired by exactly that, played perfectly by fantastic musicians. That man, experiencing that moment, was excessively happy.

The arrangement you hear in the recording was inspired by the one that musician and composer Evgenios Voulgaris made for that occasion. He had joined the rehearsals in Rhodes a bit later due to a prior engagement. «Όχι τόσο Βαγκνερικό!» (“less Wagnerian, please!”), was his first comment after hearing what we had made of ‘Romanza’. He then started to make some subtle but much-needed changes to the interpretation, for which purpose he wanted to know more about the intentions I had with the piece. My approach is usually quite intuitive, so it was enlightening for me to have to put my intentions into words, discuss them and see them getting translated into instrumentation and phrasing. A couple of days later, after the concert, I told Evgenios how much I liked his orchestration and that would like to record ‘Romanza’ in the studio with a similarly large group. He replied: “you don’t need a big group to get a big sound.” Spot on again, as demonstrated by Ross Daly, Kelly Thoma and Mayu Shviru on this very album.

The melody of the fourth section, which starts at 04:20, came to me when we were called back into the classroom during a composition seminar. While my fellow students were re-entering, I composed the section in less time than it takes to play it and never changed a note. Fascinating: tempo is crucial to the experience of music, but apparently less so to its imagination.

credits

from Erato, released November 2, 2022
Composition: Michiel van der Meulen | Makam: Acem Aşîrân | Usul: aksak semâî (10/8, 3-2-2-3) | Musicians: Harris Lambrakis (ney), Giorgos Papaioannou (violin), Nikos Papaioannou (cello), Manolis Kanakakis (kanun), Taxiarchis Georgoulis (oud), Marijia Katsouna (bendir)

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Kairos Collective Utrecht, Netherlands

Kairos Collective is the occasional ensemble that Michiel van der Meulen assembles to record or perform his contemporary modal music. Kairos is the personification of the right moment, the time to act or an opportunity to be seized, perfectly encapsulating the spirit and atmosphere of the collective's sessions. ... more

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