Share
Details
Description
SKU: A0.942057
Composed by Apostolos Paraskevas. Contemporary. Score and parts. 54 pages. Silver Sickle Publications #4728645. Published by Silver Sickle Publications (A0.942057).Tantalus was the son of Zeus and was the king of Sipylos. He was exceptionally favored among mortals since he was invited to share the food of the gods. However, he abused the guest-host relationship and was punished by being "tantalized" with hunger and thirst in Tartarus: he was immersed up to his neck in water, but when he bent to drink, it all drained away; luscious fruit hung on trees above him, but when he reached for it the winds blew the branches beyond his reach. There are differing stories about what Tantalus' crime was. A famous account says that he invited the gods to a feast and served them the dismembered body of his own son, Pelopas; when the gods discovered the deception, they punished Tantalus and restored Pelopas to life, replacing with ivory a part of the shoulder which had been eaten by Demeter.
This is a work based on the myth of the above mentioned infamous dinner which Tantalus served to the Gods his own son Pelopas as part of the meal...his crime, the passion, the distorted love and all those things that made Greeks...you know...Greeks! Full of imagination, surprises, gruesome attitude, insanity and most of all fun.
Elements of my own personal musical language are present which incorporate agitated rhythms, virtuosic writing for the guitars, passion for life and...death of course, memorable melodies, a small reminiscence of a style that a guitar audience will love...(Spanish guitar, counterpoint, and even an optional tambourine part). I proudly composed it for the Tantalus Guitar Quartet and I truly believe that always a feast after every performance will follow…
Apostolos Paraskevas
Boston 2007
Apostolos Paraskevas is a classical guitarist and composer as well as an award-winning film director and producer. He has received multiple international awards for his compositions and was nominated for a Grammy Award. He is the only guitarist ever to have a major orchestral piece performed at Carnegie Hall under the direction of Lukas Foss––and the only musician who has performed there in a Grim Reaper outfit. He was the founder and served for 16 years as the artistic director of the International Guitar Congress-Festival of Corfu, Greece. He is a voting member of the Recording Academy (Grammys). After his undergraduate music studies in Volos he pursued advanced studies in classical guitar with Costas Cotsiolis (diploma, 1990) and Leo Brouwer (Havana 1984, 1988), as well as postgraduate studies in composition with Lukas Foss and Theodore Antoniou (DMA in composition, Boston University, 1998). Paraskevas embarked on a successful career as a guitar soloist and contemporary composer, achieving distinctions in both disciplines: Grammy nomination for Chase Dance (Bridge Records, 1999); first prize for Night Wanderings (Lukas Foss Composition Competition, 2000); first prize for Phygein Adynaton (National Composers Conference, 1997); and numerous prestigious commissions, performances, and publications. Following teaching posts at Northeastern and Boston Universities, Paraskevas has taught since 2001 at the Berklee College of Music in Boston (professor of composition and classical guitar).
His eclectic compositional style arises as an idiosyncratic integration of seemingly conflicting influences – _from avant-garde approaches to harmonic structure, form, and timbre, to pop-folk modal and rhythmical concepts – _amalgamated into a personal evocative musical language, characterized by rhythmic verve, melodic grace, dramatic (and sometimes unexpectedly humorous) gestures, and ritualistic or theatrical elements. The latter feature has also led Paraskevas to the creation of films, notably the acclaimed I Finally Did It (Gold award, California Film Awards 2010), dealing wittily with Death, a recurring extra-mus.
This product was created by a member of ArrangeMe, Hal Leonard’s global self-publishing community of independent composers, arrangers, and songwriters. ArrangeMe allows for the publication of unique arrangements of both popular titles and original compositions from a wide variety of voices and backgrounds.
Digital Downloads are downloadable sheet music files that can be viewed directly on your computer, tablet or mobile device. Once you download your digital sheet music, you can view and print it at home, school, or anywhere you want to make music, and you don’t have to be connected to the internet. Just purchase, download and play!
PLEASE NOTE: Your Digital Download will have a watermark at the bottom of each page that will include your name, purchase date and number of copies purchased. You are only authorized to print the number of copies that you have purchased. You may not digitally distribute or print more copies than purchased for use (i.e., you may not print or digitally distribute individual copies to friends or students).