related works

The Lost Border Dances : for double string quartet and electronics / Yannis Kyriakides

Genre: Multimedia
Subgenre: Mixed ensemble (2-12 players) with multimedia
Scoring: 4vln 2vla 2vc tape

Giri : for bass clarinet, double bass, tape and live electronics / Tilen Lebar

Genre: Multimedia
Subgenre: Mixed ensemble (2-12 players) with multimedia

...baciamo, furtivamente, di notte... : for flute, organ, synthesizer & tape / F. Xavier Gelabert i Muntaner

Genre: Multimedia
Subgenre: Mixed ensemble (2-12 players) with multimedia
Scoring: fl org synth tape

Punctum Reditum (Impossible Time) : for clarinet, violin, accordion and electronics / Alla Zagaykevych

Genre: Multimedia
Subgenre: Mixed ensemble (2-12 players) with multimedia
Scoring: cl vln acc tape

composition

The Lost Border Dances : for double string quartet and electronics / Yannis Kyriakides

Other authors:
Kyriakides, Yannis (Composer)
Description:
The title refers to the dances performed by border guards, known as Akrites, during the height of the Byzantine Empire. The transcription of these dances and their modern equivalents found in the traditions of the Pontos, through Northern Greece to the Balkans, is used in the piece as basis for the musical material. There is no reference to the folk music tradition - rather the description of the movements themselves have been translated into musical gesture, and the music re-imagined.
There are 8 dances which are encoded in the music, each quartet alternating in taking the lead, like a dance battle, or a dance-off. The transitions become increasingly longer as the piece progresses, creating a shared sonic space between the re-imagined dances, an uncontested buffer zone.

Yannis Kyriakides