Michael Levy | Magic of the Kithara: The Golden Age of Pericles @MichaelLevyMusic | Uploaded February 2024 | Updated October 2024, 1 week ago.
A live performance of "The Golden Age of Pericles" - track 11 from my new album in progress, "Magic of the Kithara". Originally featured on my 2015 album, "The Ancient Greek Tortoise Shell Lyre", this new arrangement of the piece for recreated ancient Greek kithara, attempts to evoke the Golden Age of Pericles (461-429 BCE) -a golden period of history,
which enabled the necessary conditions for Athens to rise as an academic and artistic superstructure, which gave birth to Western Philosophy.
This tune started life as a spontaneous improvisation in the poignant, yearning ancient Greek Phrygian Mode, perfect for expressing an evocation of the lost world of the “Golden Age” of Athenian culture which flourished under the leadership of Pericles (495-429 B.C.), a brilliant general, orator, patron of the arts and politician—”the first citizen” of democratic Athens, according to the historian Thucydides.
Originally arranged for replica ancient Greek tortoise shell lyre, in my 2015 album, "The Ancient Greek Tortoise Shell Lyre", this new arrangement of the piece for the deeper, more resonant timbre of the recreated ancient Greek kithara adds a new depth to the melodic ideas.
Due for release on all the usual digital music platforms on 1st January 2025, each and every one of the tracks for "Magic of the Kithara" can be previewed, as they are created, only on Bandcamp:
michaellevy.bandcamp.com/album/magic-of-the-kithara
The kithara reached its pinnacle during the 5th century BCE. There is plenty of controversy about the construction - the curious spring-like structures clearly illustrated below the crossbeam to which the strings are attached, could either be interpreted as structural (providing equal & opposite reaction to the downward pull of the strings on the slender arms of the kithara, as most academic scholars believe), or maybe even evidence of some form of mechanical vibrato/portamento mechanism!
My recreated ancient Greek kithara was hand-made in modern Greece by Luthieros:
luthieros.com
For more detailed information on the kithara of classical antiquity, please also see my own website blog:
ancientlyre.com/the-kithara-of-ancient-greece-rome
Many thanks for watching!
Support:
patreon.com/Michael_Levy_Ancient_Lyre_Music
Subscribe:
youtube.com/subscription_center?add_user=Klezfiddle1
Official Artist Links:
Official Website:
ancientlyre.com
Facebook Page:
facebook.com/beautifullyre
Twitter:
twitter.com/AncientLyre
iTunes:
itunes.apple.com/us/artist/michael-levy/id4324920
Spotify: open.spotify.com/artist/7Dx2vFEg8DmOJ5YCRm4A5v
Amazon:
amzn.to/2zmJph3
Bandcamp:
michaellevy.bandcamp.com
CD Baby:
cdbaby.com/Artist/MichaelLevy
A live performance of "The Golden Age of Pericles" - track 11 from my new album in progress, "Magic of the Kithara". Originally featured on my 2015 album, "The Ancient Greek Tortoise Shell Lyre", this new arrangement of the piece for recreated ancient Greek kithara, attempts to evoke the Golden Age of Pericles (461-429 BCE) -a golden period of history,
which enabled the necessary conditions for Athens to rise as an academic and artistic superstructure, which gave birth to Western Philosophy.
This tune started life as a spontaneous improvisation in the poignant, yearning ancient Greek Phrygian Mode, perfect for expressing an evocation of the lost world of the “Golden Age” of Athenian culture which flourished under the leadership of Pericles (495-429 B.C.), a brilliant general, orator, patron of the arts and politician—”the first citizen” of democratic Athens, according to the historian Thucydides.
Originally arranged for replica ancient Greek tortoise shell lyre, in my 2015 album, "The Ancient Greek Tortoise Shell Lyre", this new arrangement of the piece for the deeper, more resonant timbre of the recreated ancient Greek kithara adds a new depth to the melodic ideas.
Due for release on all the usual digital music platforms on 1st January 2025, each and every one of the tracks for "Magic of the Kithara" can be previewed, as they are created, only on Bandcamp:
michaellevy.bandcamp.com/album/magic-of-the-kithara
The kithara reached its pinnacle during the 5th century BCE. There is plenty of controversy about the construction - the curious spring-like structures clearly illustrated below the crossbeam to which the strings are attached, could either be interpreted as structural (providing equal & opposite reaction to the downward pull of the strings on the slender arms of the kithara, as most academic scholars believe), or maybe even evidence of some form of mechanical vibrato/portamento mechanism!
My recreated ancient Greek kithara was hand-made in modern Greece by Luthieros:
luthieros.com
For more detailed information on the kithara of classical antiquity, please also see my own website blog:
ancientlyre.com/the-kithara-of-ancient-greece-rome
Many thanks for watching!
Support:
patreon.com/Michael_Levy_Ancient_Lyre_Music
Subscribe:
youtube.com/subscription_center?add_user=Klezfiddle1
Official Artist Links:
Official Website:
ancientlyre.com
Facebook Page:
facebook.com/beautifullyre
Twitter:
twitter.com/AncientLyre
iTunes:
itunes.apple.com/us/artist/michael-levy/id4324920
Spotify: open.spotify.com/artist/7Dx2vFEg8DmOJ5YCRm4A5v
Amazon:
amzn.to/2zmJph3
Bandcamp:
michaellevy.bandcamp.com
CD Baby:
cdbaby.com/Artist/MichaelLevy
