Vangelis Katsoulis & Alexandra Papastefanou

"Piano Works"

In this album, one of the most talented and acclaimed figures of the pianistic scene, Alexandra Papastephanou, interprets in an exemplary manner and in close collaboration with Vangelis Katsoulis, his works that span approximately two and a half decades, from 1981 to the present day. This is not a complete collection of piano works, but a selection that, among other things, clearly demonstrates the evolution of Vangelis Katsoulis as a composer over the course of these last two and a half decades. Until now, we have had the opportunity several times to ascertain from his recordings, in what way his classical education influenced the peculiar and "personal" style of jazz. Now we can not only see the reverse, that is, how jazz in turn influenced his "classical" writing, but also that these two different genres, from a certain point on, approach each other so much that they appear and they work as one. Also, that in both cases, both when Vangelis Katsoulis works as a jazz composer, and when he moves in the field of contemporary spoken music, he tends to fall in love with tradition (mainly with Bach and Heindel) and often draws inspiration from there. But in most cases he uses the tradition as a starting point to then start his own personal journey, which he prefers to be more of an adventure than a journey with a destination. 

As a work, Alicanto for two pianos is certainly the most important to the album and rightfully so it took the most time to compose compared to all the other tracks. At the same time, it also has the greatest technical requirements in execution. For this reason, its recording by Alexandra Papastefanou is a real feat, which at least in the classical piano repertoire, no one else has attempted so far. This does not mean, of course, that her presence in the rest of the works for solo piano is less important and that some of them do not also have interpretive and technical difficulties. On the contrary, her stamp is strongly felt even in the simplest and technically easy pieces. "Piano Works" is a production that, in addition to fans of the music of Vangelis Katsoulis, the interpretations of Alexandra Papastefanou and the piano as an instrument in general, is addressed and in the world of music education, as the specific works are almost simultaneously published by F. Nakas.


Tracklist:

3 Etudes:
1st Etude: Homage to Bartok
2nd Etude: First Impression
3rd Etude: Study on B-A-C-H

Nefeli's Dream
Girls Playing
Sebastian
Hidden
Nocturne

Alicanto for 2 pianos:
1st mvt: Introduction
2nd mvt: Variations
3rd mvt: Allegro
4th mvt: Adagio
5th mvt: Finale
6th mvt: Epilogue