Hatzis: Dancing In The Light / Rivka Golani

1 CD - Label: Cbc - SMCD5243 - Broken Mirrors - Hatzis, Christos - Viola: Rivka Golani - Percussion: Beverley Johnston - Oboe: Suzanne Lemieux Rivka Golani, viola, Symphony Nova Scotia, Bernhard Gueller, conductor

Christos Hatzis has a wonderful ability to communicate directly to the hearts and minds of both performers and audiences. The pure accessibility of his work hides a remarkably complex arsenal of techniques that draw upon the full diversity of musical approaches that exist in the world today. Hatzis' music is inspired by early Christian spirituality, his own Byzantine music heritage, world cultures and various non-classical music genres such as jazz, pop and world. He is a believer in borderless culture and many of his most recent works bridge the gap between classical music and today’s popular music idioms. The two concerti on this disc are what Hatzis calls “his personal answers to the question of dance as an expression of life”. Both are earthy works, grinding down in Pyrrichean Dances to the gritty depths of hell’s own rhythmic intensity and flying high in Telluric Dances to the soul singing heights of what Hatzis calls “his continuing faith and hope in the potential of humanity”. Pyrrichean Dances is a double concerto for viola, percussion and string orchestra. The CBC funded composition was commissioned and features wonderful performances by RIVKA GOLANI and BEVERLEY JOHNSTON. The name for this four movement work is borrowed from the Greek word “Pyrrichios”, a war dance. Elements of war like aggressiveness and astonishing orchestrations pervade the first two movements. It settles into a moment of ravishing tenderness in the third, with a heart stopping solo by what seems at first like an impossibly beautiful human voice, only to discover it is a musical saw (of all things!). The fourth movement Hatzis says “spans all the way from atonal minimalism to disco aggression”, and leaves you breathless. Telluric Dances is an oboe concerto in three movements and the entire work draws heavily on traditional dance rhythms and modes from Hatzis’ native Greece. However, in an international twist of musical fate - he didn’t come across most of them until he played in Toronto’s Greek clubs in his early years as a composer. The piece makes intensive use of SUZANNE LEMIEUX’s incredible virtuosity on the oboe.The accompanying orchestra is the maritime treasure SYMPHONY NOVA SCOTIA conducted by the internationally acclaimed BERNHARD GUELLER