The big Russian State channel “Kultura” presented in great words, a tribute to the Greek composer Savvas Karantzias in Moscow. The following report states:
The Synodal Choir of Moscow presented at the Tretyakov Gallery a musical work by a Greek composer Savvas Karantzias entitled “The Theophanes the Greek” dedicated to an outstanding illustrator. The concert performance is included in the program of the Year of Greek Language and Literature in Russia.
“Not much information about Theophanes’ life was saved, but his paintings and murals remained. It gave me the power to write music. I wrote the first notes, incidentally, when I saw Tarkovsky’s film, Andrei Rublev, ”says Savvas Karantzias.
The action begins with the birth of Theophanes the Greek in Constantinople around 1340. His beginning, after the years that he spent in Russia, where he created his great works, painting the temples in Novgorod and Moscow.
By giving an oratorio to the musical minimalism, the band members admit that it is not an easy task to perform.
“This musical language that allows us to immerse ourselves in the spiritual depth and content of this narrative of Theophanes the Greek is, if you will, a musical mural that reveals his work,” explains Alexei Puzakov, head of the Synodal Choir of Moscow.
Mr. Puzakov, during the premiere in the Russian capital, played an unusual role for himself – a reader who used to tell about the life of an illustrator with texts specially translated into Russian.
“We had trouble studying the Greek text, but the composer explained everything to us and we quickly entered the Greek alphabet,” says Mikhail Kotelnikov.
Now the composer is working on an essay for Andrei Rublev. It will be the sequel of the “Theophanes the Greek” oratorio.
