Bracewell, Anthony / Itzkoff, Coleman
Charles Calomiris: Philia
Two works by Charles Calomiris form a diptych on the musical meaning of phila, understood as active fraternity. Chordophila, a sonata for violin and cello, entrusts four movements with a journey from the distortion of Crooked World to the shared freedom of Free to Play, transforming material from the opera Gethsemane and a song commemorating the Coptic martyrs. Concerto Grosso Laïko refracts the Greek Revolution through Tripolitsa, Mesolongi and Navarino, conceived as emblems of uprising, sacrifice and deliverance. Its innovative use of the concerto grosso creates a social dramaturgy: individual instrumental voices retain their identity and transparency while joining a common social body. National memory thereby becomes musical form, and fraternity is revealed as both subject and method.