Kyriakos Sfetsas - Imprints (2019)

Kyriakos Sfetsas' vision behind the formation of GFO, was to create a piece of work that would expand the boundaries of Greek traditional music. The result was a Progressive-Jazz Fusion masterpiece comprising complex and intriguing compositions, performed by Athens' best musicians of the day.
Kyriakos Sfetsas is a composer, arranger and conductor and was born in 1945, in Amphilohia. He took his first music lessons in Lephkada, in the small town band and music school. He continued attending piano and advanced theory lessons in the National Conservatory of Athens from where he graduated in 1965.
In 1967 he settled in Paris, where, thanks to a French Government Scholarship (1968 - 1972), he continued his studies composition and musical analysis under Prof. Max Deutsch.
His musical career started in 1968 with the first public performance of his "Episodes" for solo piano in the Latin-American Hall in Paris. Since then, his compositions have been played in festivals of contemporary music in France as well as throughout the world including Greece.
In Paris, he worked with various groups of contemporary music and many of his works were comissioned by the ORTF, the ARS NOVA orchestra, the modern dance group of Vitry and other Institutions. A great part og his work has been published by the music firm "Editions Transatlantiques".
In 1975, Kyriakos Sfetsas returned to Greece and began working for the Greek Radio as a free lance producer. In 1977 he was appointed head of the music department of ERT First Program, a position that he has held since then.
His work encompasses a wide spectrum of compositions: symphonic music, chamber music for various ensembles, choral music, works for solo instrument and small ensemble, stage music, works for solo instrument and small ensemble, stage music, ballet music, electronic music, jazz compositions, songs based on modern Greek poetry. Recently, another sort of musical expression was added to this list: music for the movies. During the Salonica Film Festival in 1980, he was awarded a First Prize for his musical contribution to P. Tassios' film "Parangelia".
Following the success of Vol.1, Vol.2 is a compilation of musical pieces Sfetsas recorded with the group right upon the completion of the Vol. 1 material. Vol.2 is still reflective of his ambition of bringing together progressive jazz and traditional music, but it does so in a different manner. Although the element of traditional music remains present, it does not provide the compositional foundation for the songs (e.g. most pieces are no longer based exclusively on traditional musical forms). More jazzy and more complex than Vol.1, Vol.2 has a darker feeling, presenting Sfetsas not only as a musical experimentalist, but also as a demanding and distinctive composer, who truly puts his musicians through the test.
The recordings on this album are previously unreleased and form only a small part of his overall body of work with the GFO. The music was originally recorded Stereo on Reel Tape with highest standards for the time, with the modern mastering process highlighting even more their original sound quality. The result is a truly impressive and pure audiophile album, even slightly better than Vol.1 on that regard.
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