To wake and find the world still burning

To wake and find the world still burning, Haralabos [Harry] Stafylakis (2022)
concerto for two guitars and string orchestra

“We all live in a house on fire, no fire department to call; no way out, just the upstairs window to look out of while the fire burns the house down with us trapped, locked in it.”
―Tennessee Williams, The Milk Train Doesn't Stop Here Anymore

Composing a major substantial work for guitar & strings – such as what is in essence a two-guitar concerto – carries special meaning (and baggage) for me. As a metal guitarist by training and temperament, I am inevitably inclined to try to write the most powerful, virtuosic, metal piece I can.

It so happens that modern electric guitar language has been strongly influenced by the string music of Antonio Vivaldi. Guitar pioneers such as Yngwie Malmsteen, Ritchie Blackmore, Michael Romeo, and Uli Jon Roth grew up on a classical music diet before becoming shred guitar icons. In Vivaldi's more virtuosic string music, such as the fast movements of the Winter and Summer concerti from the Four Seasons, the music's propulsive, motoric, hard-edged style bears a strong resemblance to some subgenres of contemporary metal.

To wake and find the world still burning takes the stark, energetic, moto perpetuo atmosphere of these most metal of baroque masterworks as its starting point, and refilters it through a contemporary metal sensibility, enhancing the hardness and aggression in any way possible.

This piece was composed a year into the pandemic. The title is born of my refracted memories of the early days of the global cataclysm, living in Manhattan and watching in real time as New York City quickly transformed into a scene from a dystopian sci-fi/horror film.

My deepest thanks to Adam Cicchillitti and Steve Cowan for making this project happen. It's a special thing as a composer to get to work with like-minded musicians, and over time to develop together a new, shared musical language.

—H

Instrumentation: 2 guitars (nylon string, drop-D tuning, amplified) / string orchestra (min. 4-4-2-2-1)

Orchestral performance parts are available via rental.

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