“When some years
ago I met George Arkomanis and I was facing the score of Rainy Night for the first time, I
was surprised, knowing a young composer who either did not know
what to expect from his work, or he was expecting so much and...
he knew too much!
By studying the
work, I found myself confronted with fundamental musical, pianistic and artistic issues. How a performer
should treat a "peculiar" new music score? What attitude
must he have towards a
new work, when he presents it
for the first time, thereby creating a "benchmark"? What is the
proper piano sound required to approach the deeper meaning, when it comes to
a work without
precedent and with huge demands on dynamics, sound colours, articulations, pedals and many other
parameters?
You can compare
Rainy Night perhaps with some works by Schubert, where you must tell a lot with
very little means.... less is more then! A principle that appears to be at the creation of Arkomanis, who manages to
be complex and multi-layered in a very simple way, which to me, makes him a
modern "classic".
The directness
of the work lies in its simplicity. A simplicity that comes from the genius, the personality and
the ability of the composer to focus and not to be distracted
from his purpose.
The Rainy Night
is a process, an existential quest, a questioning and a solution
simultaneously. An archetypal, melancholic and lonely rainy night, during which
internal conflicts, dreams, disappointments, fears and hopes compose a
psychological mosaic, onto which everyone has step at some
point in our lives.
The result of
this process, for me, was to become a little better pianist and maybe a little
better person. That's why I thank George Arkomanis for entrusting me Rainy Night. I hope the
hearing of the work to do the same to
you ...”
Dimitris Anousis