Choróchronos I - Χωρόχρονος (1998)
(for two percussionists and two pianos)

The book A Brief History of Time by the famous astrophysicist Steven Hawking first drew my attention to the subject of the origin of the universe and the relationship between space and time - choróchronos - in 1997. The theory of the "Big Bang", the origin and future of the universe and the observations made by scientists to date fascinated me and prompted me to compose a work for two pianos and two percussionists in the same year.

Hawking's theory of the closed universe was decisive for the development of the musical form in the first movement: a so-called bridge form (A | B | C | B | A) represents the musical parallel to the expansion and contraction of the universe.

The musical material of the work is formed by the use of clusters in both horizontal and vertical form, the combination of modality, aleatoric and free tonality, minimalist development and structure as well as a rhythm strongly orientated towards ancient Greek rhythmic patterns.

Choróchronos I was honoured with the international Rodion Shchedrin Chamber Music Prize 2004.

A CD recording has been released by Cavalli Records.

Minas Borboudakis, 2005