Stella Tsani & Elena Chounta
Hellanion

Subways Music in collaboration with the Union of Greek Musicians and its magazine "Polytonon" created "Hellanion", the first album of new production that is distributed directly for free, without being released in record stores. "Hellanion" is freely available together with issue no. 13 of "Polytonon".
The soloists Stella Tsani and Elena Hounda on their second CD together took over and carried out the mission they had to create a record that covers as many musical trends as possible in the Greek music of the 20th century.
The trends of the first half of the 20th century are represented by the two leading Greek composers of the period, the great Nikos Skalkotas (with the peculiar and demanding "Sonata for solo violin") and Manolis Kalomiris (with the masterful "Sonata for violin and piano"). , who worked in parallel, but followed completely different musical paths.The former adopted the new currents coming from Central Europe creating personal writing styles and the latter was the most important pioneer of the Greek National School, incorporating impressionistic and post-romantic elements into his work.
Thodoros Antoniou is the man who, with his multidimensional activity (composer, conductor, professor and president of the Union of Greek Musicians) and his international recognition, influenced all the great changes that took place in the second half of the 20th century and is the artist who stands right between the old and the new generation of composers. His magnificent youthful "Sonatina for Violin and Piano" marks just that.
The new generation of composers is represented by two particularly active and distinguished members of EEM, Iakovos Konitopoulos, who is also active as chief musician, and Leonidas Kanaris, who has also been distinguished for his solo activity as a guitarist. The intensely colored "Erotikon" of the former was chosen for "Ellanion" because it expresses the newest compositional currents, while the atmospheric "Separation Scene" of the latter represents neo-romantic-neotonic trends, as well as programmatic music.
Stella Tsani and Elena Hounda devoted themselves to the search for the ideal performance style for each work and composer and collaborated with the living composers (Antoniou, Konitopoulos, Kanaris) in the rehearsals and recordings resulting in the creation of an album of many different nuances, but at the same time with homogeneous aesthetics and quality.

Tracks:
Manolis Kalomiris
Sonata for violin and piano
1st mvt. Agitato
2nd mvt. Andantino piacevole
3rd mvt. Vivo

Theodoros Antoniou
Sonatina for violin and piano
1st mvt. Allegro
2nd mvt. Pastorale - Largo
3rd mvt. Allegro - Presto

Leonidas Kanaris
The break-up scene
for violin and piano (1998)

Iakovos Konitopoulos
Erotic
for violin and piano (2001)

Nikos Skalkotas
Sonata for solo violin
1st mvt. Allegro furioso, quasi presto
2nd mvt. Adagietto
3rd mvt. Allegro ritmato
4th mvt. Adagio - Allegro molto moderato

Contributors:
Recording: Akron Studio
Sound engineer: Dimitris Fritzalas
Remixing & mastering: Vangelis Fabas
Photos & cover: Makis Anasiadis
Texts: Sophocles Sapounas
​Translation: Steve Jackvaar
Production: Sophocles Sapounas - Subways Music