(How that boy changed…)

We are already quite a distance from the sudden passing of our beloved Kyriakos, and the first thing that strikes me is the sheer volume of publications that appeared. I don’t know if this is a subjective impression, but I believe that, compared to the deaths of other prominent composers, the coverage of this event was better this time. Perhaps this means that, little by little, something is changing in the recognition of musical affairs in our country. I hope so…

Kyriakos was a good person and well-liked by everyone. This is evident from what was written and from what was said by those who knew him. They say that love, money, and a cough cannot be hidden. I would add that in the music world, a good character also cannot be hidden, a rare commodity!

I learned about him around the end of 1970 through one of his scores and a photograph. The score was the work “Dokimologia” (Trialogue), one of the first he wrote, first performed in Paris, and presented here in Greece by Theodoros Antoniou. A recording of the work (which lasts approximately 8 minutes) can be found on the website of the Library of the Department of Music Studies at Aristotle University.
https://sophia.mus.auth.gr/xmlui/handle/123456789/1322

I don’t remember having heard it back then, but I do recall seeing the score at an exhibition. I was struck by how it was designed in the characteristic ‘ornate’ script of that period. Only the staves with notes were filled, and the rest of the page was empty, with graphics mainly for percussion, etc. Searching now, I found the score again, but this time it was written in a standard way. Perhaps I’m remembering incorrectly, or did Kyriakos rewrite it?

Where I am certainly not mistaken is in the photograph I saw then. Someone a little older than me, looking like a musician from a rock band. I liked that photo, as I was just leaving rock music at the time.

Many years later, when we properly met at the Third Programme, he had retained many elements of that initial appearance. Years had passed, but you didn’t notice the change that much. Besides, when I met him, my mind was elsewhere: I was trying to see what was happening here in Greece and at the same time promote the CD with the song cycle “Baker’s Dozen” that we had just released. I remember (and will always remember) that he was practically helpful, unlike some old acquaintances or teachers. But let’s not spoil the mood…

Like all of us, I remember how he continued Hatzidakis’s “Third Programme” legacy. I heard very little of his music all these years, and it’s probably a shame because in the meantime, he had changed a lot, completely abandoning the “fantasies of the Avant-garde.” (Here I borrow a phrase from Giorgos Kouroupos). Beyond the good quality and pleasure, I would have benefited because I, like many of us, having broken away from modernism, were looking for alternative paths. But there are always lost opportunities…

The portrait photograph, more than any other, was published now, bringing us to the present. How that boy changed! I say this to myself as I look at it.

Farewell, Kyriakos, and thank you for your contribution. I hope we don’t forget you…