from Oannes *

Ενώνοντας το κόνσεπτ των άγιων ημερών με αυτό των συνθετών του μήνα, περνάμε στη ζοφερά μεγαλοπρεπή Νήσο Των Νεκρών του Σεργκέι Ραχμάνινοφ. Πηγή έμπνευσης του συμφωνικού ποιήματος – ορόσημου της υστερορομαντικής περιόδου υπήρξε ο εικονιζόμενος πίνακας του Ελβετού συμβολιστή ζωγράφου Arnold Böcklin.
Αυτό που είχε δει ο συνθέτης ήταν μια ασπρόμαυρη εκτύπωσή του. Θα δήλωνε αργότερα ότι την προτιμούσε απ’ το original, πιθανολογώντας ότι …αν είχε δει αυτό, δεν θα είχε συνθέσει το έργο.

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Combining the holy days concept with the one of this month’s composers’ we move on to the gloomily majestic Island Of The Dead by Sergei Rachmaninov. The source of inspiration for this symphonic poem, a landmark of the late romantic period, was the depicted painting by the Swiss symbolist painter Arnold Böcklin.
What the composer had seen was a black and white printout of it. He would later state that he preferred it to the original, adding that … If he had seen this, he probably wouldn’t have composed the work.

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Enjoy!

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As always, I’m happy to hear your thoughts, however I’d highly recommend a direct dialogue with the …’source’ [why comments are closed here], so please visit Oannes’ page where you can also listen to the music!

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* For my friends who didn’t know, or first timers here, Oannes [aka Socratis Papahatzis] is my husband, partner in life and music and the one with my undying admiration. Together we have a band MK-O [the music of Marina Kanavaki & Oannes]. So, it’s my pleasure to share with you his [and sometimes mine] musical selections. • Do visit his site. He has my highest recommendation!