专辑简介

Vaios G. Malliaras (1907-1988) Clarinet Master of Greece was the third son of George and Katerina Malliaras, born in Pyrgetos, Thessaly. At the age of 15 he made a flute out of bamboo and tried to mimic the birds that he would hear high up on the cliff face of the Tempe Valley with the river flowing swiftly beneath him. The echo of his efforts to learn flute attracted Turkish Gypsy Clarinet players Tsiamali and Haliamba who taught him clarinet in 1919. His uncle Konstantinos Malliaras (1858-1922) played professional clarinet and sang to audiences throughout Thessaly and Macedonia between 1880 to 1922. In late 1933, future archbishop of Greece Seraphim sought him out in Pyrgetos and invited him to come to Athens to record at Columbia Record Studios. In 1934 he recorded his first track 'Rising Sun' or 'Hlios' which mesmerises audiences to this day. From 1934 to 1981 he recorded over 300 clarinet tracks with some of the most talented singers and musicians. He has played to the Greek Diaspora in Canada, Australia, and Europe. The Hellenic Government considers him a cultural ambassador of the Greek nation. Archbishop Seraphim considered him 'the most authentic Greek clarinet'. Patriarch Dimitrios I of Constantinople and New Rome said 'I have listened to Vaios over many decades … he plays a wonderful clarinet'. Professor Tasos Tamis, former head of the Hellenic Studies Department at La Trobe University said, 'Vaios was one of the most talented clarinet masters of his period … who transmitted his genius to a whole new generation of musicians'.

Alliance Capital Financial Services Pty Ltd is the official representative of the Estate of Vaios and Maria Malliaras worldwide and will make available from its archives digital masters of rare recordings in the future as they become available for universities, colleges, libraries and music enthusiasts worldwide.