Byron's Greece for Baritone Voice

Byron’s Greece takes its inspiration from sections of Byron’s “Childe Harold,” in which the Philhellene poet celebrates the glories of ancient Greece amid the unhappy conditions of its subjection to the Turks in his own day. The composer employs contrasting musical groupings—solo versus ensemble and adult chorus versus children’s chorus—inspired by the contrasting images of Byron’s poetry.

Techniques of contemporary composition (clusters, microtones, choral speech) are mingled with modal lyricism representative of Greek folk music. The work is an uninterrupted sequence of sections: an instrumental introduction; textless vocal sections; declamation by the solo baritone voice, solo clarinet, and children’s voices; and a spoken fugue.

The piece was commissioned by Peter Tiboris and premiered at Avery Fisher Hall in Lincoln Center in 1985. That summer, Tiboris took the piece on tour in Yugoslavia and Greece.