Evis Sammoutis at Hellenic Centre and Wapping Hydraulic Power Station
14 & 20 March 2007

This multi-prizewinning SPNM shortlisted composer (Cypriot, b.1979; based in York) is going from strength to strength and is likely to emerge as one of the more significant younger composers working in England - and, too, he is a notable guitarist! His music has been featured this month in two interesting London venues.

I first encountered Evis Sammoutis at Amsterdam's Gaudeamus Week 2004, and of his Dimorphism for two violins wrote:
- - Evis Sammoutis described his elucidation of the overtones produced on violin strings by six levels of bow pressure, notated with a clarity and practicality - - it has opened for him ' so many direction possibilities each day'. These were realised convincingly by Lydia Forbes and Heleen Hulst in the world premiere of his magical work Dimorphism, inscribed In memoriam Giacinto Scelsi, music which the great master would have been proud to acknowledge in the succession of discoveries following his own that 'an entire universe of harmonies can be heard in a single sound'.

That impression was fortified by the London premiere of Dimorphism by Peter Sheppard Skaerved and Mihailo Trandafilovksi, the violinists of the Kreutzer String Quartet, in a concert during which we also heard Peter give the world premiere of Monogenesis (2003) for violin solo, a work which built a formidable edifice from a four-note cluster, the music gradually moving higher. In Rotations, performed by Julian Warburton and Matthew West, Sammoutis emancipated the humble snare drum in a tour de force which exploited its rich sound and timbral possibilities.

With the composer recovering from a hand injury, guitarist Alan Thomas deputised brilliantly in Alter Ego 1, which explored that instrument's possibilities, melodic, percussive and harmonic, with scordatura to enhance overtones through sympathetic resonance. Part of an extensive work-in-progress cycle, you can listen online to an extract from Alter Ego II.

At Wapping, violinist David Albermann (one time member of the Ardittis) framed his cutting edge solo recital with Berio's Sequenza VIII and one of Sciarrino's Capricci, taking in several SPNM shortlisted composers among which, Evis Sammoutis apart, I enjoyed best George Holloway's For no one, to no one, which counterposed sustained melodies with flurries of notes, trills and tremolos. But it was Sammoutis who, once again, stole the show, with Taftophonia (2006) for vocalising violinist*.

The score (illustrated) has two pages of instructions and the performer is asked to adjust dynamics to create a strong timbral link between the vocal sounds and playing part. That was not entirely successful at this Wapping premiere, where there is a lot of background noise (the pianissimo delicacies of Lachenmann's Toccatina virtually vanished) and the sound received was a seating position lottery (we found ourselves far too close to two loud speakers!). Sammoutis' music has a depth and aural richness which belies the appearance on the score.

Of these two venues, the Hellenic Centre (near Baker Street) is central and unproblematic; elegant and good for sound, it could usefully be considered for concerts more often? Wapping's power station is exciting to see, but so out of the way that restricting concerts there to one-hour seems a little perverse?

Peter Grahame Woolf

*Peter Sheppard Skaerved will include Taftophonia in a Sammoutis portrait concert at RAM 13 April 7.30 p.m. (admission free):

Διμορφία – Dimorphism for two violins
Μονογένεσις – Monogenesis for solo violin
Ψηφίδες – Tesserae for violin and cello (WP)
Ταυτοφωνία – Taftophonia for vocalising violin
Ηχοπραξία – Echopraxia for string sextet (BP)

Performers will be the Kreutzer Quartet + Rohan de Saram (cello) and Pedro Mereiles (viola)