Composer
Economou studied composition with Vladislav Zolotorev and Wilhelm Killmeyer. He wrote music for piano, for small ensembles, symphonic music and film music. Many of his compositions have themes and rhythms from Cyprus and the Mediterranean. Some of his compositions are: Children Studies, Sonata for Chick (dedicated to Chick Corea) for piano, Cyprus Picture and Cyprus Dances for an eight piece ensemble. He wrote the soundtracks for twelve films including Rosa Luxemburg and Die bleierne Zeit, both by Margarethe von Trotta.
Economou also arranged Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker Suite (originally written for orchestra) for two pianos, dedicated to his daughter and Martha Argerich's daughter. Performers and critics alike have praised this arrangement, since all the musical colours portrayed by the orchestra are very well conveyed by two pianos. Economou also arranged Vivaldi's The Four Seasons for four pianos.
Read more about this topic: Nicolas Economou
Famous quotes containing the word composer:
“A composer is a guy who goes around forcing his will on unsuspecting air molecules, often with the assistance of unsuspecting musicians.”
—Frank Zappa (1940–1994)
“A nation creates music—the composer only arranges it.”
—Mikhail Glinka (1804–1857)
“A person taking stock in middle age is like an artist or composer looking at an unfinished work; but whereas the composer and the painter can erase some of their past efforts, we cannot. We are stuck with what we have lived through. The trick is to finish it with a sense of design and a flourish rather than to patch up the holes or merely to add new patches to it.”
—Harry S. Broudy (b. 1905)