For Emilia and Anna-Maria, for the luminosity of each gesture...!

HOPEFUL MELANCHOLY

The sounds emerge from the silence “like flames in a shadow riddle”. The music develops step by step from elegiac, contemplative passages to a euphoric dance that reveals Latin American roots. On the way, surprising references to Mozart's Piano Concerto in D minor can be detected, Beethoven's Sonata Op. 31 No. 2 (“The Tempest”) or gestures from his heroic Third Symphony. These elements emerge like a memory, like a game of thoughts. One might ask: Was it there or not...? But it is not so much about recognising something straight away or solving an intellectual challenge, but more about provoking an impulse for reflection.

One thing is evident: the connection to Beethoven is no coincidence. His desire to create sonorous images of nature connects with this composition in a personal context. The surrounding world, one's own environment, is given a metaphorical room in which spontaneous reactions also come to life. Thus, in the second third of the piece, an improvisation appears that additionally emphasises the presence of another subject: Emilia, a ninety-one-year-old Venezuelan girl who, in her simple wisdom, has been transformed into a song.

There is SOMETHING that all the characters involved in this composition have in common: Whether listening to sublime sound monuments of Bach, Mozart or Beethoven, thinking about the magnificence of nature or talking to Emilia - all this leads to a special world of confidence, where even melancholy seems hopeful.

The work also exists in a version for Orchestra (and Piano Obbligato) under the title: The World Through Emilia's Dreams.

Commissioned by pianist Anna-Maria Maak.

The creation of this work was made possible by a grant from the Cultural Heritage Foundation of the Free State of Saxony.

Recorded on Anna-Maria Maak’s concept album ‘In the Secret of the World’ | Label Florentyn Music | Catalogue number: FM-CD 2101)

Written in 2006, the anniversary of 250 years after Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s birth, this work was first performed at Megaron - The Athens Concert Hall, in February 2007, by the Hellenic Contemporary Music Ensemble conducted by Theodore Antoniou.

It is based on the melody of the lullaby “Schlafe, meinPrinzchen, schlafein….”. For many years many people believed this beautiful song to be Mozart’s composition, but, as it turned out, it was actually written by Bernhard Flies (1770 – 1851). The public’s belief that such a wonderful melody and lyrics could only have been written by Mozart, gave me the idea to use Flies’s melody in my own composition, which is meant as a lullaby for Mozart, this great Prince of Music. The composition has been written for solo voice, flute, clarinet, horn, percussion, piano and strings.

It starts and finishes with a music which could perhaps be considered an effort to “communicate” with Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Immediately after that, the melody of the lullaby is sung. Then, instrumental intermezzos are inserted between the various short phrases of the song, reminiscent of melodies from concertos written by Mozart for some of the instruments participating in the composition (winds and piano). These melodies are from the horn concerto KV 447, the clarinet concerto KV 622, the flute concerto KV 314 and the piano concerto KV 467. 

This composition is dedicated to the great composer, conductor and educator Theodore Antoniou (1935 – 2018), as a tiny gesture of gratitude and recognition for his immense contribution to music.

The work the work has been recorded in cd (Soloist : Margarita Syggeniotou, Orchestra of Colours/Miltos Logiadis)

Composed between 1998 and 2005, the Musical Moments represent musical imprints of thoughts and circumstances from Alkis Baltas’s life. In any case, as he confesses, these short pieces “constituted a pleasant recourse from various everyday problems”.

Romantic in expression, “Love Song” (2000) is an inspired woodwind duet with piano accompaniment in simple ternary form (also known as Lied form): A-V-A`. The change of scenery in the middle section is effected by the parallel minor of the original tonality. The music becomes more active due to the new meter vand faster tempo, and with a new and intensive melody which contrasts the tender flute theme we had heard in the beginning. In the final section the piano assumes a more energetic melodic role, until the music fades away with a nostalgic recollection of the first theme.

Baltas reveals his humorous side in “Mozart-ata (3 mini-ets)” (2005), a series of three little pieces based on three minuets that Mozart composed at the age of 6 (implied in the title and the subtitle). In the first he is crying (“Lacrymozart”) - or actually whining - through the clarinet glissandi, while flute and piano mutually complement each other in presenting the melody of the familiar minuet in F major. In the next one, the little boy constantly creates a rumpus with his yelling (“Mozart is screaming”). To achieve this effect Baltas resorts to multiphonics, an experimental technique that allows a woodwind to produce two or more notes simultaneously, using specific fingerings combined with an unconventional way of blowing. The four-part chord in the flute’s high register depicts perfectly the shrieks of rambunctious (and nagging?) Wolfgang, while the clarinet and the piano keep on… minuetting as if nothing is happening! Finally, the two winds undertake the unhindered execution of the third minuet, with the piano running literally up and down as it simulates Mozart’s incessant scuttling (“Mozart is running”).

“Three thoughts about solitude” (1998) is not a trio, but three solitary monologues. Indeed, in a live performance the three musicians must position

themselves each facing a different side. The wind parts consist of very few pitch classes, in rhythmic patterns predetermined for each instrument: four

pitch classes in recurring formations for the flute and only two for the clarinet. The piano plays exclusively tone clusters (dissonant stacks of adjacent tones), which in the middle of the piece manifest fierceness. The three “thinkers” do not coincide save the last bar, where a small hope of encounter emerges faintly.

A canon entitled “Chasing happiness” follows, in which every part chases the other. An apparent stillness is established in the middle section, offering evidence that perhaps the goal (finding happiness) has been achieved. However, the canon continues and the fast chase is resumed, proving that it was all an illusion. The final bars wish to convey exactly that: the unattainability of absolute happiness.

Regarding the next work, “Tribute to innocence” (1998), Baltas remarks that it is “in ternary form and contains impressionistic traits, inspired by Seferis’ verse: ‘Whether it’s dusk or dawn’s first light, the jasmine stays always white’”. These traits refer to the beautifully coloured sound-world, which draws its idiom from the language of Satie (pioneer of the French avant-garde who influenced Debussy). Following the winds’ introduction, the piano enters with a melancholy waltz. Soon the music reaches a plateau, where the flute melody deviates from the tonality of the pianistic backdrop as if expressing discord. In its answer the clarinet acts conciliatorily and we gradually return to the waltz. The two winds sway to the intoxicating dance rhythm of the piano; and when the excitement is abated and the piano hushed, the “couple” remains there exchanging only a few words. In the end the melody seems transfigured, as it

passes by and disappears in the horizon. The title of “Mini-m(p)al(t)ism (Study on boredom)” (2005) is a pun on the composer’s last name and the technique of minimalism. As for the subtitle, it is indicative of Baltas’s intentions. The work is based on specific thematic (and not motivic) material repeated

endlessly on a steady pulse, while the dynamic level stays invariable for long units. In his generally personalised adaptation of the minimalist principles,

the composer gives the piece’s sectional form a sense of concatenation and direction towards a final climax.

The “Three bagatelles” (2005) transmit a pleasant and untroubled emotional state, without any technical or musical demands – a fact indicated by the title: bagatelle = something trivial (the composer himself offers the term “relax music” as an alternative). The music calls to mind the most unclouded pages of the Parisian style developed by the group of six composers known as Les Six, with elements from jazz and the blues. For example, in all three pieces the piano part is based on “walking bass” and syncopations – characteristics that turn up in the woodwind lines of the second Bagatelle and ultimately pervade the third. Bagatelle no. 1 is the simplest. The winds present a seven-bar-long melody (with interesting chromatic movement) twice alternately and then simultaneously. The music is suggestive of a carefree stroll and bears distinct cinematic properties. Enriching the rhythm with the ingredients mentioned above makes the second Bagatelle livelier, while the phraseology is modelled after the first. In Bagatelle no. 3, its carefully improvisational form and the instruments’ closer collaboration put together a charming culmination, clearly making this piece the least…trivial!

Fun yet virtuosic is “Don’t worry, be happy” (1998), with minimalist features which occasionally betray obstinate persistence. The sound effects and avant-garde techniques employed in this pantonal and often highly dissonant work are noteworthy: slap tonguing, multiphonics, clusters with the palm of the hand, rhythmic tapping on the piano lid and a final surprise from the pianist. Conclusion: no matter what happens in between, “Don’t worry, BE HAP-PY”!

“In te, Domine, speravi”, non confundar in aeternum is the Latin translation of the Greek original, comprising the first verse of the 71st Psalm

of David (70th in the Greek numbering); it also forms the last verse of the laudatory Te Deum. Many composers have set this verse to music. Select melodies on the text “In te, Domine, speravi” (Gregorian chant, Heinrich Schütz, Josquin Desprez) and the relevant “Ad te, Domine, levavi” (Joseph Fux) are heard throughout this work (2002). First, the melody of the Gregorian hymn is stated in free rhythm by the clarinet. Then the flute unfolds the Fux excerpt and holds a drone, over which the clarinet re-enters with the melody by Schütz. Next, the organ (or piano) delivers Desprez’ four-part setting and two consecutive expositions of the three other themes ensue. Through the sounding of these melodic lines, the composer aims to give the impression of an

invocation to God, which might originate in different time periods yet is offered concurrently. The prayer ends with the mystic whispering of the ritual

verse trailing away, while being rhythmically repeated in the flute’s mouthpiece.

Cadenza was commissioned by Christian Robinson, concertmaster of the Sudbury Symphony Orchestra through an Ontario Arts Council Northern Arts grant. This work was composed as a cadenza to the second movement of Mozart's Violin Concert No. 5 but is also performed as a stand-alone composition for solo violin inspired by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

Mozartiana – a musical joke, is a divertimento for clarinet ensemble. This is my bow to the Salzburg master by playing around with some of his most famous tunes. It is also an ironic reference to Mozart’s own «Musikalischer Spass, K.522».

After trombone player in the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra Thorbjørn Lønmo heard Silent Wave for piano performed by Simon Trpceski during the Oslo Philharmonic tour in Spain, he suggested that I should have the piece arranged for brass quintet. I appreciated the idea, and we started working together on this project.

Here, some words about my inspiration when I started writing the original: “Silent Wave for piano”.

Whether you are out at sea or you are standing on the shore looking outwards, you sometimes may observe these rolling silent waves giving you an impression of a water-landscape rising and falling in regular sequences that over time may calm you down in an almost meditative way. Once, when I by chance hit some chords at my piano, I was inspired to start working on a piano piece titled Silent Wave because this opening chord sequence reminded me of such waves at sea.

Composer´s notes

Composing an homage in honour of a person is like looking for an answer to several questions, especially the importance of this person for me and what it provokes in me.

I find it very appealing to be inspired by people or topics from the past and to combine this inspiration with my own musical associations in order to find a new sound. This process seems to me like a wind that merges the times. It is a musical challenge to build an emotional bridge between the past and the present in a tonal way.

I sense Mozart and his music as an energy that leads me. The question if the composition reflects any of Mozart’s work remains unanswered, since no theme, melody or certain rhythm was deliberately included for musical citation. It is like playing hide-and-seek in the forest, a feeling, a certain aura; the piece reflects what Mozart provoked musically in me at this point in time.

three dialogues arises from three atmospheres that are audible as dialogues between the instruments. Although there is no dramatic development between these atmospheres, they do form as a whole a progression and a connected conversation which the audience can follow.

The piece was composed for viola and piano in 2014, commissioned by violist Nils Mönkemeyer and pianist William Youn. It was premiered November 4, 2014, in Innsbruck, Austria. 

Mozartian Transformations is a ‘fantasy on a Fantasy’. What would Mozart’s music sound like turned upside down and inside out?

Mozart’s D minor Fantasy KV 397 is the starting point for Mozartian Transformations. The dark mood of Mozart’s music is explored in the opening chords which concentrates and manipulates the opening sequence of Mozart’s harmonies.

After some musings on Mozart’s opening figuration and musical gestures,the theme of the Adagio is heard in retrograde. This idea is developed further in the bars that follow.

The Allegretto is turned inside out, retaining and inhabiting the elegance of Mozartian expression.

Finally, there is a fugue which combines Mozart’s ideas with original material which underlies the whole composition.

Mozartian Transformations presents a series of transformations of Mozart’s material aiming to ‘inhabit’ Mozart’s style, yet still combining original material with it that identifies the composer of this piece.

Mozart Variations

Unfortunately Mozart only wrote an excerpt of 8 bars for harp solo and never finished the work. Fortunately I took those bars and wrote variations on them with some tricky chromatic twist and turns. This piece is dedicated to my dearest friend, the wonderful harpist Magdalena Hofmann.

Figure Out What You Want" is my orchestrated and reimagined rendition of Mozart's renowned Figaro Overture. In the middle of the performance, the conductor turns to the audience and delivers a speech of their choosing. I have crafted a simple loop that continues until a cue from the conductor. This presents the ideal opportunity to welcome the audience in a personalized manner. One of my favorite speeches in this moment is to encourage the audience to freely applaud whenever they feel inclined to do so. I engage them in a playful practice session at that point, creating a delightful and amusing experience for the audience.

In the ductus of this piano piece is based on the lightness and motivic simplicity of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's piano sonatas.

Allegro is based on two melodic themes. The fist theme is made of a fresh four-tune motif, the second theme sounds shadowy and calm.

Andante has a repetitive bar structure. This provides the basis for the melodic unfolding.

The movement pair Menuett - Trio is written in traditional three quarter time. The partly syncopic rhythmic design emphasises the dancing character.

Presto forms a vigourous final set. The playful main motif returns several times and thus gives this movement a kind of rondo form.

The title suggests some similarities with the sound world imagined by W. A. Mozart, whose name, musically encoded, becomes the main motif encountered throughout the work. There are several relationships with the Mozartian musical universe, the second part of the piece having the indication Alla turca - an obvious connection with the famous final part of Sonata in A major no. 11 by W. A. Mozart.

For Amadeus  was written for AMADEUS Guitar Duo.

AMAZEUS wants to capture the playful spirit of Mozart. In the first part, MOZIGLIANDO, the performer will come into contact with the bisbigliando technique, quickly changing between slide positions while playing the same pitch. In the second part, TROMBO NIRUM, he will play by shaping the sound by changing the oral cavity; the title of the part is justified by the use of a modified quotation from Mozart's Requiem , Tuba mirum section. The third part, AMAZEUS IN PIRAEUS, will challenge the performer to use a distorted, "buzzed note” alongside the usual sounds; also, the sound qualities will be changed by moving the bell. In the fourth part, WOLFI TESTING LAMBORGHINI, the challenge will be to use the frullato technique together with the multiphonic sounds, obtained by singing and playing simultaneously. Part five, PIMPERLUDIS, is a reference to Mozart's dog Pimperl. The use of WAWA mute, the glissando on harmonic sounds and the imitation of a dog barking will be the central elements of this last part.

AMAZEUS was revised by Scott Hartman, lecturer in trombone at Yale School of Music.

The Church Sonata in C, KV 336, by W. A. Mozart is a small concerto for Organ, the sonata form is developed in the constant dialogue between the instruments and in the classic contrast between SOLO and TUTTI orchestral. The transcription for large organ with multiple keyboards and pedalboard, allows to restore this sound contrast and to keep alive the dialogue between the instruments, assigned to the different registers and groups of pipes, in the play of the parts that winds through the passage on the different keyboards of the Organ.

Cadenz [a Mozart] was composed as a tribute to Mozart and is based on a minimal, "monadic" fragment of the Adagio from the Piano Sonata 332 in F major (1783). It begins with an object in fixed, almost hexatonal, motionless registration, and from there starts a slow backward journey in search of that Mozartian fragment. The work is thus a journey into the past in order to rediscover the quotation towards the end of the work, which emerges ruinous; the Mozartian Adagio must then be played. What I have sought with this piece is a new subjective position for the listener of Mozart. At the same time, the concept of cadenza, from which it takes its title, is the time in suspense, that time of exception which precedes the re-exposition in classical concertos and where the singularity of the performer emerges - that is, what the pianist has to say as commentary in the concerto with orchestra.

On July 24, 2004, Major Bradley S. Abels, M.D., USAF, died suddenly in a traffic accident Tuesday evening, July 27, 2004, on Route 35 near Winfield, West Virginia. Major Abels was the son of Doctor Gene and Jean Allyn Abels of Gallipolis. In addition to his parents,he is survived by two children, Alex and Lani and three sisters, Barbara Abels, Hawaii; Beth Abels, Arcata, California; and Sara Abels and Son, Bradley Cline. Major Abels was born September 16, 1960 and grew up in Gallipolis, where he had many friends. He was an honor student and graduated from Gallia Academy High School in 1978, having served as President of the Senior Class. He attended Miami University at Oxford, followed by Ohio Wesleyan, graduating Suma Cum Laude from Otterbein College. Following college, he joined the Navy, attending Officers’ Candidate School. He spent six years with the Navy, stationed mostly in Hawaii and the South Pacific. Following this, he transferred into the Air Force, where he enrolled in the Uniform Services Medical School. His internship was Bethesda, Maryland. The next two years were spent in Japan, before returning to the States and entering a residency program in San Antonio, Texas. Having passed both oral and written boards, he was certified in emergency room medicine. Bradleys father, Doctor Gene Abels was a member of the Board of Directors of the Ann Carson Dater Ariel Cultural and Performing Arts Centre in Gallipolis Ohio, where I was serving as Composer in Residence. The resident professional orchestra of the Centre, The Ohio Valley Symphony asked for a work in memorium of Major Abels based on Mozart's Ave Verum Corpus. I very quickly wrote this piece and it was performed in the fall of 2004. Twenty years later, I completely rewrote the work, having always loved the opening, but as a composer who works very slowly, felt the rest of the work could be better. This revision is presented here. As in my other Fantasias on anothers work, I first "disassemble" the music and identify motifs that could be developed into something new using reharmonization, inversions, retrograde, elongation, and extension then reassemble the transform bits into a new piece. In this case, working with such a masterpiece, I included several almost direct quotes of fragments that provide a glance past my humble efforts to remind the listener of the masterpiece I started from. 

Alma Grial is a large-scale mystique for orchestra. Inspired by the "mental journey" that a human being

has made through his life, which become fully present in his last earthly moments. The work is divided into two parts: Alma and Grial. Alma has several processes of mental rupture, in order to detach itself from the body and be fully itself, thus becoming spirit. When Alma becomes spirit, it then mystisizes the Grial. Grial symbolizes the most sincere nobility of the human spirit, without egos, vanities or any sort of arrogance:

only the essence of the spirit that reaches the mystical state of freedom forever...

"In its four-movement structure, the clarinet quintet On a Thin Line follows the classical and romantic models of the genre. It was written as a counterpart to Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's famous Clarinet Quintet from 1789, which founded this genre. The contrasting characters of the movements span a range from the cautious Moderato cantabile in canon technique to a energetic Molto marcato and an elegiac Lento misterioso to the lively Allegro moderato in rondo form. The work is entirely tailored to the virtuosic clarinet soloist, who is carried by the closely interwoven motifs of the strings, sometimes in a spherical, floating manner (1st and 3rd movements), sometimes with razor-sharp precision (2nd and 4th movements): an at times dizzying, dancelike, acrobatic tightrope act." (Philipp Ortmeier)

The piece was composed between 25 August and 19 November 2018 on behalf of the Passauer Konzertverein to mark its 100th anniversary. At the premiere on 27 January 2019 in the Festsaal of Schloss Freudenhain in Passau by clarinettist Petra Schönberger and the string quartet of the Passauer Konzertverein, it was juxtaposed with Mozart's Clarinet Quintet.