CD ECM Records Eleni Karaindrou: The Weeping Meadow

2004

Eleni Karaindrou Piano
Maria Bildea Harp
Renato Ripo Violoncello
Konstantinos Raptis Accordion
Sokratis Sinopoulos Constantinoble Lyra
Vangelis Skouras French Horn
Sergiu Nastasa Violin
Angelos Repapis Double-Bass
Hellenic Vocal Ensemble
Antonis Kontogeorgiou Director
La Camerata, Athens



I don’t know whether it was the nostalgic sound of the Russian accordion, or the cry of the cello that touched me. I don’t know whether it was the angelic fingerings of the harp or the whisper of the Constantinople lyra. In the end, I don’ know which magical combination, which code Eleni Karaindrou’s music is made up of, so as to open and reveal images of migration, uprooting or exile, hidden in the cell memory of each one of us. With nostalgia as a vehicle, this music travels inside us and brings us close to our deeper self. It contains the reflection and freedom of poetry.
Liana Malandrenioti, Difono (Greece)

A masterpiece of musical narration… Once more, Eleni Karaindrou, in a magical and dreamy, yet totally direct and down to earth way, has introduced us to the ambience of the film, building her own parallel sound creation. The ECM New Series’ album The Weeping Meadow is something really outstanding… The music is an elegy, an Eastern type blues – from a very specific part of the East, round the Black Sea – which changes and alternates without losing its basic essence and target for a moment. The album consists of Eleni Karaindrou’s original music, a fact which gives independence to the work and significance not limited by its function as a soundtrack. The music has such immense dynamic and such active narrative power … that you can feel the film even if you haven’t yet watched it!
Giorgos Charonitis, Athinorama (Greece)