Reviews

Editor's Choice Gramophone January 2018-Light Over Darkness

The Piano Quintet is one of Schnittke’s darkest, most haunting works. It takes existential angst to a pitch at which Shostakovich and Mahler would have given up, and then, miraculously, resolves it in a stunningly simple apoetheosis. While the work has in some sense an arguably fuller expression in its orchestral reworking as In memoriam, the sheer intensity of this chamber version is utterly gripping, and the combination of the young Greek pianist Erato Alakiozidou and the Lutosławski Quartet is electrifying. They treat the music with reverence, certainly, but they are also not afraid to mould it, to take it and make its very personal pain their own. It is not every pianist who can make the obvious waltz-like gestures of the second-movement Tempo di valse resonate as Alakiozidou does, and not every string quartet who – and here one thinks of the intensity of the Penderecki of the 1960s – can bring such tension to a cluster resolving on to a unison...........Read More

The best new classical albums - January 2018
“An excellent disc from the innovative Odradek label, musicianship and sound-quality of very high standard making for a grippingly intense chamber experience.”Martin Cullingford / January 2018

Fachos de Luz writes on Erato Alakiozidou and Lutosławski Quartet's album Light over Darkness that it "reunites Schnittke's quartet and quintet for piano to the quartet "In l'istesso tempo", of the Georgian Giya Kancheli... Scnittke's quintet was inspired by his mother's death. It has four movements of mourning and one, the last, which is almost a box of hopeful music. Light triumphing over the darkness." March 2018
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LIGHT OVER DARKNESS by Erato Alakiozidou and Lutosławski Quartet reviewed in French magazine Classica by Sarah Léon:

"A dark piece in which we catch echoes of Malher and Shostakovich, Alfred Schnittke's Piano Quintet (1972-1976) is certainly a masterpiece. Five movements stamped with the seal of death follow one another implacably: four of them slow as laments, while the second, a squeaky waltz which slowly overturns and ends up as a lugubrious dirge, constitutes, if you want..., the exception. In the finale, a soothing melody in the higher range, composed almost exclusively over two notes, brings a ray of light on a dissonant bed of lower strings before a final waltz reminder, as a memory of the Imperial Vienna swallowed by the war.

The Piano Quartet (1988) appears like the anamorphosis of a quartet barely sketched by Mahler in his youth. Schnittke chooses to make us hear the Mahlerian material initially distorted, loaded with parasitic lines and dissonant chords, over a piano ostinato which recalls the obsessive motif of Gretchen at the Spinning Wheel, before gradually revealing the embryonic melody of the original.
Giya Kancheli's Piano Quartet "In istesso tempo" (1998) is in the same romantic-expressionist vein. Twenty minutes of crepuscular landscapes succeeding each other: alternately vehement, tragic, desperate, but also dreamy or ethereal, it perfectly complements Schnittke’ remarkable pieces."
March 2018

Burkhard Schäfer writes for PIANONews on Erato Alakiozidou's disc "In Blue and White": "The work selection, interpretation, sound and "spirit" of the recording convince without exaggeration from the first to the last sound."
April 2018

Reviews for Light Over Darkness & In Blue and White from Phontas Troussas/
Η Αλακιοζίδου, όμως, με την εμπειρία της, μέσα από την υπερ-εικοσαετή ενασχόλησή της με το «χώρο», δεν αντιμετωπίζει, φυσικά, την παραμικρή δυσκολία στο… να σταθεί στο ύψος της κάθε περίπτωσης.Εξαιρετική η ηχογράφηση και γενικότερα η ηχητική και εκδοτική παραγωγή. Read More
April 2018

Concert Review ( Thessaloniki March 2018)-Greek Composers /In blue and White from Antonis Balaskas
Και ειλικρινά, είναι θεαματικό να βλέπει κανείς την Ερατώ Αλακιοζίδου να παίζει με τα δάχτυλα πάνω στην κάσα του πιάνου ή να πεταρίζουν τα δάχτυλα της σαν γλάροι πάνω στο άηχο κλαβιέ.
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Some words from Giya Kancheli

Dear Erato,
Here are few words about the album:
I was pleasantly surprised by the release of a CD album featuring my piano quartet L’istesso Tempo. I was pleased to find my work next to two compositions by Alfred Schnittke. Alfred was so close to me that I am taking the liberty of thanking Erato Alakiozidou and the Lutoslawski Quartet not only for myself, but also on behalf of my closest friend. Thank you for treating our music so caringly.

Giya Kancheli
January 14th /2018

Review Odradek CD Light Over Darkness

We really enjoyed listening to the incredible performance of music by Schnittke and Kancheli recorded on the “Light over darkness” CD. It was great to hear the “Quartet in L’istesso tempo” by Giya Kancheli for the first time in such wonderful presentation. But the main surprise for us was Piano Quintet by Alfred Schnittke that we have heard many times before in different interpretations, but this was something completely different: very exquisite, delicate, with no false pathos, with great understanding, and every note was full of meaning. The latter concerns even the silences inside pauses that we have never experienced listening to other performances of this masterpiece, and this we found absolutely magic.

Dmitri N. Smirnov and Elena Firsova
9 September 2017, St Albans

Η συνολική ερμηνεία του δίσκου – μη λησμονώντας την αισθητική του - είναι εξαιρετική. Είναι έργα στα οποία όπως γράφει η ίδια η πιανίστρια «βρίσκουμε ένα πλέγμα κυρίαρχων συναισθημάτων: θλίψη, θρήνο, φόβο, απώλεια, μοναξιά, μνήμη, νοσταλγία και αθωότητα – που χαρίζουν ένα προσωπικό τόνο σε κάθε κομμάτι». Στο τεντωμένο όπου ακροβατούν οι μουσικοί, μεταξύ ήχου και σιωπής, κρατώντας στα χέρια τους μουσικά κομμάτια από το πάνθεον των αριστουργημάτων, αξίζει να περπατήσουμε μαζί του. Άλλωστε, σίγουρα υπάρχει κάποιος λόγος για το πλατύ χαμόγελο στο πρόσωπο της πιανίστριας στο οπισθόφυλλο του δίσκου, όπου η μοναδική πηγή φωτός είναι η παρτιτούρα πάνω το πιάνο.
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Antonis Balaskas September 2017

Από τους πολλούς καλούς σύγχρονους συνθέτες λόγιας μουσικής πάντα ο Άλφρεντ Σνίτκε και ο Γκίγια Καντσιέλι, σχεδόν συνομίληκοι, έχουν ξεχωριστή θέση στις προτιμή...σεις μου. Η επαρκής ήδη δισκογραφία τους έρχεται να συμπληρωθεί με ένα ακόμη άψογο από κάθε άποψη (ερμηνεία, ηχογράφηση, παραγωγή) δισκογράφημα ελληνικού ενδιαφέροντος που κυκλοφόρησε ήδη από την αμερικανική ODRADEK RECORDS με τίτλο "LIGHT OVER DARKNESS". Περιέχει το Κουιντέτο με πιάνο (1976) και το Allegro από το Κουαρτέτο με πιάνο (1988) του Σνίτκε και επίσης το Κουαρτέτο με πιάνο ("In Listesso Tempo", 1998) του Καντσέλι. Το ελληνικό ενδιαφέρον έγκειται στην καθοριστική συμμετοχή της πιανίστα Ερατούς Αλακιοζίδου η οποία μαζί με τα μέλη του περίφημου 'Lutoslawski Quartet' διεισδύουν στον μαγικό ηχοχρωματικό κόσμο των έργων και μας τον αποκαλύπτουν αρτιώτερα ίσως από κάθε άλλη προγενέστερη δισκογράφηση (όπως αυτή του έργου του Σνίτκε από το 'Tale Quartet' στη BIS. Είναι απορίας άξιο -αν και για την αξιοσύνη και το μοναδικό ταλέντο των μουσικών μάλλον αυτό περιττεύει- το πως μουσικοί που δεν συνυπάρχουν επαγγελματικά μαζί, πέτυχαν αυτή την καθηλωτική μουσική ταύτιση οδηγώντας τα θαυμάσια αυτά στο απώγειο της ερμηνείας. Επίσης, το εν λόγω δισκογράφημα είναι μία πρώτης τάξεως ευκαιρία για τον οποιο φιλόμουσο διατηρεί αποστάσεις από τους μουσικούς πειραματισμούς, μετά το β' ήμισυ του 20ού αι., να το ακούσει ευχάριστα και ν' αλλάξει την αρνητική ή αδιάφορη ίσως γνώμη του και όντως να φως το απαστράπτον φως πλημμυρισμένο με υπέροχη μουσική και ερμηνείες. Θαυμάσιο επίσης το εξώφυλλο της χαρτόδετης συσκευασίας με τα φωτισμένα πρόσωπα που έρχονται στο φως από το σκοτάδι. Συγχαρητήρια σε όλους τους συντελεστές του δισκογραφήματος γι' αυτή την υπέροχη προσφορά τους. Συγχαρητήρια θερμά ιδίως στην Ερατώ μας και εύχομαι σε καλή συνέχεια.
10 Σεπτεμβρίου 2017
Θωμάς Ταμβάκος

True music -- that is, a statement from the heart. Highly unadorned piano writing (bravo Erato Alakiozidou) framed variously, yet always with conscious expressiveness, by contrapuntal statements in the strings, ranging from atonality to the most unaffected chords, fragments of waltz through a dream or a nightmare...Giorgos Leontzakos 2014

In their second cd they are approaching pieces of A. Piazzola, a biased choice which is compensated by the precision of the Greek quartet’s (violin, accordion, contrabass and piano) intellectual lyricism and enriched by the idiomorphic, deeply-expressing performance of G. Syllaiou. Argiris Zilos – Athinorama – 2008

The high status of the performances is highlighting, on one hand, the multiform emotional potential concealed in the compositions, and on the other hand, the special ability of each of the soloists, leading to a contemporary “reading” of Piazzola’s collateral, which differs among the devoted-to-tango releases of the recent album production.Spiros Alexopoulos – Hitech – 2008

the aggregate encounter of the issue “Piazzola adaptation”, which is clearly deeper than the already known by a mediocre arranger, is what makes Tangos a Cuatro special. This encounter is leading them to the mature thinking of selecting less known compositions and songs but they remain focused on the yeast of all the things Piazzola expressed during his life with no negotiation. You never deny a “Soledad” or a “A Don Nicanor Paredes” from the “Four songs au bord de l’ eau”, in which Piazzolla sets J.L. Borges to music and which is one of the pieces, performed by G. Syllaiou, a restless contemporary singer who makes me respect the piece and also say that I do so, and whose deep timbre of voice is the prime carriage for the present spirit to lie on… …Panos Panotas – Mic – 2008

If I had taken the blindfold test with hearing Ankh’s (of course without knowing the names of the performers) sound graph “Somebody is talking to tango”, I would say deliberately that it is one of the best performing versions and arrangements of works, “full of lyric beauty and rich harmony”, of the unique Astor Piazzolla, worldwide.This notification is true for the 5 instrumental parts because when hearing the additional 4 “Songs au bord de l’ eau”, based on poems by Jorge Luis Borjes, the reading of the amazing darkish sound color of our favorite Georgia Syllaiou’s voice is obvious.And indeed the surprise is stumping with the revelation of the performer’s identity, who are Greek and all great musicians (although the up-to-date rich and pithy artistic activities of the 4-member music ensemble Tangos a Cuatro is not a surprise anymore but a fact). Hereupon, the stunning Tangos a Cuatro prove via the technical adequacy, the warmth, the skill and the rich emotional reserves, that they possess at a great extent the (dark, moody, full of disappointment and melancholy) sound universe of the unforgettable creative heavy-weight, like a few others in the world. Through deep focus and respect towards the re-reading of the works incredible aspects are unfold and transform the present sound graph into a point of reference, into a continuation of their also important first sound graph of 2003 by Protasis company. Therefore, it is hopeless to seek inaccuracies in the music combination of voice and instruments or of instruments without a voice in order to reject by chance my earlier point about perfection in “Somebody is talking to tango”. Everything flows inebriantly, set in total precision when it comes to “Piazzolean” logic and perception. And this (and of course the mature thinking of the composition selection) is what makes Tangos a Cuatro different from many devotees/performers of “Piazzolean” music. Also, the excellent choice of collaborators adds splendor to the ensemble. Such as the blissful collaboration with G. Syllaiou, whose ―I read somewhere and agree― “… deep timbre of voice is the prime carriage for the present spirit to lie on.”Thomas Tamvakos -Jazz & Jazz, October 2008

PUBLICATIONS | SYNTHERMEIA 2005 – collector’s edition If nothing more, at least we should praise all efforts of proliferation of contemporary scholar music, which come from districts outside the capital region, via those columns of this dear magazine. Moreover, when these efforts are worthwhile and are performed with one’s own means and with a lot of sweat and trouble. Thus, with great satisfaction I present the very elegant publication of the Municipal Conservatory of Thermi (a suburb of Thessaloniki), which includes the recording of the final phase of the 1st Panhellenic Composition Contest “Synthermeia 2005″ and a 70-page issue incorporating the speeches of six of the seven members of the panel of experts (all of them are great composers, with Theodoros Antoniou being the leader) and welcoming notes from the Director of the Conservatory and the Mayor. I will start with the recording … … Still, if the listening is combined with an attentive and careful reading of the speeches, both specialized and sophisticated, of the composers, then the extent of the multiple value of this publication -beyond commercial purposes- effort can become lucid. This would not be possible without Erato Alakiozidou’s tireless actions, a pianist and artistic director of the Municipal Conservatory of Thermi. She deserves many congratulations and I am looking foward to a respective publication for the “2nd Panhellenic Composition Contest: Synthermeia 2007″. Thomas Tamvakos | Jazz & Jazz Magazine

Tangos a cuatro performed works of the Argentinean composer with particular care,exhibiting a wonderful intimacy with his way of script writing and his style. … The quartet played with the sound expanding its limits, and painted with the sound color in the hospitable room of the foyer, thus configuring an aesthetic viewpoint which was welcome because of its details and harmoniously befitted as an omnium.Antonis I. Konstantinidis – “Thesalloniki” Newspaper 29.01.2007

..the enthusiasm, the virtuosity, the technical adequacy and the enriched emotional reservoirs of Tangos a Cuatro, one adequately structured quartet, which, given the occasion of the 10-year anniversary of the Argentinean master’s death, proposes a fresh but deeply contemplating and respectful re-reading of his works.Giannis Mougolias – “Jazz & Jazz” magazine – Issue February 2004

the musicians of Tangos a Cuatro … … transform into a music family “painting” dynamically their own panorama with the dreamy rhythms of Astor Piazzolla.Performances are colored with a zest to lead the “vehicle” to the edge, always following, however, the master.Maria Makrouli, “TA NEA” Newspaper, (19/01/2004)

The concert of chamber music works of the perpetual veteran composer N. Astrinidis from Thessaloniki proved to be a most amusing surprise, performed by five excellent young performers…. The main burden of the concert was shouldered by Erato Alakiozidou, a pianist with solid technique and worthwhile expressive sensitivity, who has collaborated with other, also important, artists.Giorgos Leotsakos – 2003

This is an album which will be enjoyed by those who love tango and give the chance to those who have not been introduced to it until now, to get to know its melody gifts.Anastasia Kouka – Time Out, Ethnos tis Kiriakis – December 2003

The rich programme appeared intresting in many ways. Six chamber music works, selected in order to provide a longitudinal representative passing of the creative career of Astrinidis, were interpreted by a majority of young musicians but also by the creator…The pianist Erato Alakiozidou played both preludes in Debussy style with sensitivity and absolute exactness (1947-48). She also accompanied violinist Kostas Anastasopoulos in Greek Rhapsody (1955) and cellist Dimitris Polizoidis in the concert sonata (1988)… Faultlessly prepared the interpretations of the pieces completed the composer”s profile.Yiannis Svolos Eleftherotipia Newspaper 21/05/2003

they are presenting an album full of tango power. Ten pieces, signed by the unique Argentinean virtuoso, rendered with spirit and imagination…Their sound is mature and “tight” and on its own the fact that in their first album they dare to reckon pieces which are globally well-known through their first performances, makes them worthy of congratulations ……Hi-tech magazine (18/12/2003)

Tangos a Cuatro One album, a few words… … the performing quartet … has grasped almost all the darkness of passion and all of the erotic and sexual burdens of music.e-go – Music Record Library – December 2003

In a play somebody said that paradise may be where you really would like to be and fortunately we were there for one and a half hour ……Athanasiadis P. Giannis (review on the concert in the Ceremony Auditorium of the University of Macedonia 3/03/2003. Published in the website of the Department of Music Science and Art.)

Precious institution of Greek contemporary chamber music in Thessaloniki. Recycling by D. Minakakis for violin, piano and clarinet. Faultlessly played by M. Spanou, E. Alakiozidou and O. Karidi. Well-balanced oppositions, mixtures and equilibriums among the three instruments. The Last of Saturdays by V. Kitsos, based on poetry by O. Elitis. For clarinet, violin, viola and cello… String abbs, piano sounds like water drops, a marvellous clarinet “cantilegna”. Nothing lasts more than needed in order to create an intense desire for listening this work more than one times.
Giorgos Leotsakos, review for “Echosynkyria 2002″

The programme started with the work by L. Hatzileontiadis (Abbreviations for piano – 1998). An interpretation of excellent technique, brilliant in sound, sensitive in hues and rhytmhically hale by Erato Alakiozidou.Giorgos Leotsakos, review for “Echosynkyria 2001″