Old Photographs is a movement for piano trio alone from the multimedia music theatre work Constantinople. Within the context of the larger work, it provides an antidote to the heartrending intensity of several of the other movements. Unlike the rest of Constantinople, Old Photographs is totally based on western musical idioms and opens with an introspective theme for solo piano which is stylistically akin to the music of Robert Schumann. As the work progresses the violin and cello enter and the music slowly drifts away from the classical/romantic mould of the opening towards early 20th-century popular idioms reminiscent of the music of Astor Piazzolla.
Born in Greece, educated in the United States and a Canadian citizen since 1985, composer Christos Hatzis (b.1953) is becoming widely known as a leading figure in contemporary classical music. His works are performed and broadcast throughout the world, and their frequent combination of a powerful spiritual foundation with an immediately accessible appeal has made a deep emotional impact upon audiences and performers alike.
