Karaindrou, Eleni - Elegy of the Uprooting
"In her first concert recording for ECM, Greek composer and pianist Eleni Karaindrou seamlessly weaves samples of her sad but beautiful film and stage music from 13 scores spanning 22 years, producing a stunning career retrospective that transcends genre. The result is a wholly new body of work that she calls Elegy of the Uprooting. It is a remarkable, almost otherworldly, showcase for her intensely moving songs of love and loss."
(The Absolute Sound)
"If some of the films that Eleni Karaindrou has written scores for had been more internationally popular, this great Greek composer would now be a global celebrity. She'd the Greek answer to Nino Rota or Ennio Morricone.. Her unique gift, which has found its finest flowering in films like The Beekeeper and The Weeping Meadow, is that she manages to capture a sense of ancient and timeless sadness like no one else. ... This concert of her work was recorded at the Megaron in Athens with the Camerata Orchestra and the ERT Choir but it is always Karaindrou's delicate and precise piano playing and Farantouri's extraordinary vocal power and emotional force that makes this recording so deeply moving."
(Sydney Morning Herald)
Maria Farantouri, voice
Vangelis Christopoulos, oboe
Socratis Sinopoulos Constantinople, lyra, laouto
Maria Bildea, harp
Konstantinos Raptis, accordion, bayan
Sergiu Nastasa, violin
Renato Ripo, violoncello
Stella Gadedi, flute
Nikos Guinos, clarinet
Sopcratis Anthis, trumpet
Spyros Kazianis, bassoon
Vangelis Skouras, French horn
Aris Dimitriadis, mandolin
Christos Tsiamoulis, ney
Panos Dimitrakopoulos, kanonaki
Andreas Katsiyiannis, santouri
Andreas Papas, bendir, daouli
Eleni Karaindrou, piano
Hellenic Radio and Television Choir
Antonis Kontogeorgiou, choirmaster
Camerata Orchestra
Alexandros Myrat, conductor
Recorded March 2005