Stafylakis | Piano Concerto No.1: Mythos

for piano and orchestra

Haralabos [Harry] Stafylakis

Piano Concerto No. 1: MythosPERUSALSCORE

PERUSALSCORE

Piano Concerto No. 1: Mythos

for piano and orchestra

I. Prologue: Creation ......................................5

II. Sonata: Legend ...........................................10

III. Scherzo: Destruction ................................44

IV. Fantasy: Lullaby .........................................73

Haralabos [Harry] Stafylakis

2023

PERUSALSCORE

Commissioned by the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra and by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (Canada), Research/ Creation Grant No. 435-2016-0076, in partnership with the University of Ottawa.

Premiered on January 28, 2023 by Jenny Lin and the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, Daniel Raiskin conducting. Manitoba Centennial Concert Hall, Winnipeg, MB, Canada

Program Note

“I've come to the conclusion that mythology is really a form of archaeological psychology. Mythology gives you a sense of what a people believes, what they fear.”

―George Lucas

“The Greeks created gods that were in their image; warlike but creative, wise but ferocious, loving but jealous, tender but brutal, compassionate, but vengeful.”

—Stephen Fry, Mythos: The Greek Myths Retold

Though I grew up from an early age with the piano and its repertoire as an integral part of my daily life, I did not truly fall in love with the instrument until I discovered the music of Sergei Rachmaninoff as a teenager. His piano concerti, especially, moved me deeply; they began to reveal to me how the grandeur of Classical-Romantic musical idioms could be harnessed in a more modern context. Years later, when I first began transitioning out of metal songwriting into classical composition, one of my first attempts (ambitiously and wildly naively) was in the form of a piano concerto. Though I did not at the time have the tools necessary to succeed in such a massive endeavor, the attempt itself was invaluable to the development of my compositional voice. (Some small elements from that piece of juvenilia have wormed their way into this new opus...)

Piano Concerto No. 1: Mythos came into existence some 15 years later, following my collaboration with pianist Jenny Lin on my series of piano etudes. Born of my love for two of my favorite instruments – the piano and the symphony orchestra (yes, I consider it an instrument) – this concerto serves as a semi-biographical archive of my personal musical history.

Each of the four movements is modeled – loosely and idiosyncratically – on a traditional form and its archetypal function within a multimovement work: prologue (prelude), sonata, scherzo, fantasy. Together they trace a dramatic-narrative arc that, I hope, conveys the sense of mythological grandeur that I feel when I consider the vaunted history of the piano concerto as one of our most important and celebrated orchestral genres.

The work is dedicated to Jenny Lin and Maestro Daniel Raiskin, without whom such a massive project would not have been possible. —HS | www.hstafylakis.com

Instrumentation

2 Flutes (2nd doubling Piccolo)

2 Oboes (2nd doubling English Horn in F)

2 Clarinets in Bb (2nd doubling Bass Clarinet in Bb)

2 Bassoons (2nd doubling Contrabassoon)

4 Horns in F

2 Trumpets in C

2 Trombones

1 Bass Trombone

1 Tuba

Timpani (4)

Percussion 1:

Glockenspiel, Xylophone, Whip (slapstick), Suspended Cymbal: heavy/dark (18-20"), Snare Drum, Bass Drum

Percussion 2:

Vibraphone, Crotales (1 pitch required: C#5, sounding C#7), Suspended Cymbal: heavy/dark (18-20"), Bass Drum Strings

PERUSALSCORE

Solo Piano

The piano should be subtly amplified in live performance and mixed from the hall to achieve optimal balance with the orchestra. In measures 5-10, the piano should be mixed high enough for the damper resonance to be audible; it should then be brought down to normal levels before the downbeat of m. 11.

Duration: 25'

First printing, June 2024

Copyright ©2020 Haralabos [Harry] Stafylakis. All Rights Reserved. Program Note Copyright ©2020 Haralabos [Harry] Stafylakis. All Rights Reserved Published by Just a Theory Press | www.justatheorypress.com

PianoConcertoNo.1 MYTHOS

[2023]

I.Prologue:Creation

airnoise(nopitch):onanytwodrums,gentlyrubthefingersofbothhands ontheskinstoproduceasoandconstantfricativesound

gentlyglowing

airnoise(nopitch):gentlymutetheGstringwiththelehandandbow continuouslymoltoflautando.(Pitchindicatedonlyforpositioning.)

airnoise(nopitch):gentlymutetheCstringwiththelehandandbow continuouslymoltoflautando.(Pitchindicatedonlyforpositioning.)

airnoise(nopitch):gentlymutetheC&Gstringswiththelehandand bowcontinuouslymoltoflautando.(Pitchindicatedonlyforpositioning.)

[holdpedalthroughfirstchordtoallowresonancebloom]

Haralabos[Harry]Stafylakis(b.1982)

motoron,mediummallets soloistic(complementingpiano)

[continuewithpedaling;lushbutwithharmonicclarity]

Timpani

Piano

ViolinI

ViolinII Viola

II.Sonata:Legend

PERUSALSCORE

Bsn.1

PERUSALSCORE

l.h.:cleardistinctionbetweenshort(staccatissimo)&long(tenuto)values.

PERUSALSCORE

#œj‰Œ #œœœœœœœœœœœœ #œj‰Œ #œœœœœœœœœœœœ #œj‰Œ

#œœœœœœœœœœœœ #œj‰Œ

#œœœœœœœœœœœœ #œJ‰ŒÓ

PERUSALSCORE

#œj‰Œ œœœœ #œ j‰Œ

#œœœœœœœœœœœœ #œj‰Œ w w

#œ #œœœœœœœœœœœ #œJ‰Œ

#œ #œœœœœœœœœœœ #œj‰ŒÓ

#œœœœœœœœœœœœ #œJ‰Œ

#œj‰Œ œœœœ #œ j‰Œ #œj‰Œ

PERUSALSCORE

Blankpage.

PERUSALSCORE

&bbbbbb Bbbbbbb

?bbbbbb ? ‹bbbbbb

PERUSALSCORE

Stafylakis: Piano

Concerto No. 1: Mythos JAT-128-024-FS

Turn static files into dynamic content formats.

Create a flipbook