Piano Trio No. 1: Gnothi Seauton [Know
Thyself]
for Piano Trio
2019
PERUSALSCORE
Haralabos [Harry] Stafylakis Piano Trio No. 1: Gnothi Seauton [Know Thyself] [2019]
Program Note:
Te Ancient Greek aphorism “know thyself” (Greek: γνῶθι σεαυτόν [gnōthi seauton]) is one of the Delphic maxims and was inscribed in the pronaos of the Temple of Apollo at Delphi. Tis served, perhaps, as a helpful bit of advice to supplicants before presenting their questions to the oracle.
In 2018, I travelled for the frst time to Greece, my familial homeland. Tis pilgrimage was one of exploration and of self-discovery – a quest for a beter understanding of my cultural and ethnic roots, an atempt to forge a connection with two expansive family branches I barely knew.
On the way to discovering the frst of these familial communities, I visited the site of Ancient Delphi on Mount Parnassus. Standing in front of the 24-century-old ruins of the Temple of Apollo, I could feel viscerally the symbollic import of that aphorism – know thyself – that would have greeted me there in another era.
Tis piece was composed in the days immediately following one of the most signifcant events of my life, upon my return to New York. It is a contemplation on the ideas of identity, home, and belonging.
Duration: ca. 15 minutes
—Haralabos [Harry] Stafylakis
Commissioned by Periapsis Music and Dance with the support of New Music USA.
Choreographed by Norbert De La Cruz III.
Premiered on May 10-11, 2019 at Kumble Teater, Brooklyn, NYC.
I. Projection ...................................................2
II. Introspection ..........................................13
III. Cultivation 17 IV. Resolution 21
Published by Just a Teory Press, L.L.C. | www.justatheorypress.com
Piano Trio No. 1: Gnothi Seauton Copyright © 2019 Haralabos Stafylakis (ASCAP for the USA, SOCAN for the World) & Staves Obsidian Publishing (ASCAP). All Rights Reserved. Program note Copyright © 2019 Haralabos Stafylakis. All Rights Reserved. For more information, visit www.hstafylakis.com
December 2022
I. Projection
full-arm cluster in lowest possible register; as much noise as possible. Hold pedal indefinitely, allowing it to decay naturally to silence.
PERUSALSCORE
Stafylakis: Piano Trio No. 1 JAT-128-128-004-SP