Stratis Minakakis: Vykinon, concerto for two pianos tuned a quarter-tone apart

Vykinon (2025)
Concerto for two pianos tuned a quarter-tone apart, wind ensemble, and
percussion

Composed by Stratis Minakakis
Performed by Stephen Drury, Yukiko Takagi, and the New England Conservatory Wind Ensemble, Bill Drury, conductor on November 13, 2025 in Jordan Hall, Boston, MA.

PROGRAM NOTES
A few years ago, the musicologist Anya Shatilova introduced me to a 15th-century Byzantine text attributed to George Codinus. The text described a miraculous artifact called Vykinon: named after the Roman horn-like instrument buccina, it consisted of two “singing” towers placed diametrically at the port of Constantinople. On top of the towers stood two brass trumpets. The internal structure of the towers was cavernous. When a strong wind blew, the crushing waves created an internal blast of wind that resonated the trumpets, which in turn emanated a melody “strange to one’s ears, like a Siren call” (Codinus, “On the Edifices of Constantinople"). Since the two towers were positioned across each other, their melodies created a preternatural antiphonal effect.

This evocative description of Vykinon provides the model for my homonymous work. The instrumental ensemble is divided in two groups, each led by a piano soloist. The solo piano material functions as a source of pneumatic energy that resonates its corresponding group. As in the case of the Vykinon towers, the relationship of the two groups is primarily antiphonal: one creates distorted echoes of the other, weaving a web of otherworldly calls and responses. The sense of distorted echoes is enhanced by the idiomatic tuning of the pianos and the ensemble: the second piano and the woodwind section of the second group are tuned a quarter-tone lower to create a Doppler-like effect with the first piano. Furthermore, the music material of the second piano is derived from that of the first by filtering the latter through a distorting prism, like the anamorphic paintings of the Renaissance.

The piece unfolds in three movements: Asmatikon A’, Asmatikon B’, and Polyfloisvoio Thalassis. Asmatikon refers to a genre of callophonic (or florid) chants used in Byzantine liturgical music. Polyfloisvoio Thalassis is a Homeric epithet that refers to the roaring of sea waves, particularly under windy conditions.

Commissioned by the Callithumpian Consort in honor of Bill Drury and his years of work with the New England Conservatory’s Wind Ensemble and Symphonic Winds.

More info about Stratis Minakakis: https://www.stratisminakakis.info/