About the album
A collection of Byzantine ecclesiastic hymns in Greek by Nektaria Karantzi, a distinguished female chanter, whose works are widely recognized in the sacred art of Byzantine music. The album includes ancient hymns, from the early Christian period, such as “Gladsome Light” and “Christ is Risen”, hymns dedicated to the Theotokos -a repertoire to which Karantzi has centered her research in recent years- hymns of Great Lent and Holy Week, such as the well-known “They stripped me of my garments” and “Today, He hangs on the Cross”, as well as apolytikia for two significant recent Saints of the Orthodox Christian world, Saint Nektarios, Bishop of Pentapolis, and Saint Porphyrios of Kavsokalyvia, of whom Nektaria was a spiritual child. The hymns are a cappella and without the accompaniment of a Byzantine Isokratima (Ison), conveyed in their simplest form, revealing the overwhelming power of the solitary voice of prayer. The album presents ancient hymns and poems of Saint Hymnographers of the 2nd to 7th centuries in musical compositions of the great teachers of psaltic art of the 18th and 19th centuries (Petros Peloponnesios, Georgios Redestinos), as well as musical arrangements and explanations of more recent great teachers of the 20th and 21st centuries (Athanassios Karamanis, Charilaos Taliadoros, etc.), based on the classic works of Byzantine ecclesiastical music.
Eine Sammlung byzantinischer Kirchenhymnen in griechischer Sprache von Nektaria Karantzi, einer renommierten Sängerin, deren Werke in der sakralen Kunst der byzantinischen Musik weithin anerkannt sind. Das Album enthält antike Hymnen aus der frühchristlichen Zeit wie "Gladsome Light" und "Christ is Risen", Hymnen, die der Theotokos gewidmet sind - ein Repertoire, auf das Karantzi in den letzten Jahren den Schwerpunkt ihrer Forschung gelegt hat -, Hymnen der Großen Fastenzeit und der Karwoche, wie das bekannte "Sie zogen mir die Kleider aus" und "Heute hängt er am Kreuz", sowie Apolytika für zwei bedeutende Heilige der jüngeren Zeit in der orthodoxen christlichen Welt, den heiligen Nektarios, Bischof von Pentapolis, und den heiligen Porphyrios von Kavsokalyvia, von dem Nektaria ein geistliches Kind war. Die Hymnen sind a cappella und ohne die Begleitung einer byzantinischen Isokratima (Ison), in ihrer einfachsten Form wiedergegeben und offenbaren die überwältigende Kraft der einsamen Stimme des Gebets. Das Album präsentiert alte Hymnen und Gedichte der heiligen Hymnographen des 2. bis 7. Jahrhunderts in musikalischen Kompositionen der großen Lehrer der psalmodischen Kunst des 18. und 19. Jahrhunderts (Petros Peloponnesios, Georgios Redestinos), sowie musikalische Bearbeitungen und Erklärungen jüngerer großer Lehrer des 20. und 21. Jahrhunderts (Athanassios Karamanis, Charilaos Taliadoros, etc.), basierend auf den klassischen Werken der byzantinischen Kirchenmusik.
Artist(s)
NEKTARIA KARANTZI
Her voice has been identified mainly with the Byzantine sacred art and has been regarded as one of the most important voices in Byzantine Chant. She is the unique Greek performer of Byzantine music with discography in Byzantine music since she was fourteen and with active work of chanting as a chorister in church since she was nine. Her performances in concert halls in Greece and abroad are purely devoted to Byzantine Chant and has been internationally acclaimed as the most ideal performer of Byzantine Melos [chanting] and of the Primeval Tradition. In her first recordings of chanting she accompanied a contemporary saint, Saint Porphyrios the Kapsokalyvite and with his encouragement she started her studies in Byzantine Music at a very early age. Nektaria Karantzi is also well-known in Greek music stage through her collaboration with the greatest teacher of the Greek Traditional Music Chronis Aidonides. The important moment of her career is her collaboration with the internationally acclaimed pianist, composer and conductor Vassilis Tsabropoulos in an artistic combination inspired by byzantine hymns joining West and East and toured in Europe several times. Other key moments in her career were the invitations from the Franz Liszt Academy of Music in Hungary, the Sorbonne University in France, the Oviedo University in Spain, where she gave Master Classes about Byzantine Music.
She is the Founder and the Honorary President of the “Panhellenic Association of Women in Byzantine ecclesiastical Music” and she is the Legal Services Manager and the Public Relations Director of the Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra of Athens, which is under the aegis of the Archbishop of Athens and all of Greece, Ieronymos II. Nektaria has studied Law, undertook postgraduates in Penal, in Criminal and in Ecclesiastical Law and is also a Doctor of Laws.
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