The Pano Hora Ensemble explores musical intersections, some of which occur when Near-Eastern or Middle-Eastern musical ideas are featured within a classical ensemble.
Another distinctive element of much of what we do is its dramatic content. Greek music since Homer generally has been connected to narrative— irresistible stories of passion, grief, human nature and its foibles, the unique suffering brought by familial conflict. I tend to hear narratives when I hear music, and vice versa, narratives inspire musical ideas, even if those narratives remain obscure.
My main aspiration for this album is to present chamber music transparently, celebrating the sounds of winds and strings. There is also another purpose: to come to grips with two worlds as I have experienced them. Connecting with the narrative content of a lyric-free album demands effort and imagination. Some suggestive questions may be useful.
Which side of a mountain fortress should you attack when starting a revolution? Ioannis Papakalomiris faced that question as he marched his troops from Vordonia to Mistras on March 24, 1821.
Can a makam (Anatolian mode) be lazy?
If you are lost going home to a desert caravan, which way should you go?
Is it always uplifting to be lifted up?
How does one see an obelisk? When looking at its four sides, do you see them as the same?
What two Greek dances are most dissimilar from one another in rhythm and body motion? Can the Sirtaki and Tsifteteli be combined to complement each other?
What makes a traditional American song Northern?
What sort of 1965 journey did a famous composer named Johnny tell us about?
How does it feel to be in the New World, far away from your Old World home?
Can the two best known Argentine dances be danced together?
How does a fadolín make that gravelly sound?
Perhaps you won’t discover the answers to these strange questions by listening to this lyric-free album, and you may not even care to explore them. But, then again, perhaps you will.
I credit the musicians of the Pano Hora Ensemble with teaching me how to think about their instruments, and about writing music for a small ensemble, more generally. As we all have become friends, much of what I have written was imagined with these particular individuals in mind, and their contribution to the final product is more than their performance of their parts.
Charles Calomiris
Pano Hora, Colorado