Label: Intuition
Katalog Nr. INT 34672
Release: 8. August 2025
UPC: 750447346727
Format: 2CD / Digital
Vertrieb: edel Kultur
LC: 08399

CD I

1. You are a complainer 3:25
2. Courage 3:51
3. Strefi 3:36
4. Work shift 2:51
5. The girl 2:43
6. In the rooms 2:01
7. The sorceress 4:02
8. The dice 2:00
9. Salt 3:14
10. The ditch 2:30
11. The cup 2:43
12. Stool pigeon 3:15
13. The world is a prison cell 3:22
14. Bird 4:10
15. The first cigarette 2:36
16. The marked man 1:57
17. Ungrateful woman 2:17
18. In front of the black avenue 4:31
19. The end 2:33
20. The old customs house 3:52
21. The two old lovers 3:59
22. The road of no return 3:32
23. The train didn’t even leave 5:20
24. They set off 3:13

CD IΙ

1. Someday they will come and to tell you 3:27
2. Wide sea 3:37
3. Work shift 3:50
4. We broke up 3:48
5. Bare Feet * (World Premiere) 3:28
6. Cry, my bitter cloud 3:48
7. The clock hands move very slowly 1:35
8. I can’t explain it to you 3:51
9. The old customs house 3:39
10. Autumn 4:28
11. The house * – (World Premiere) 4:12
12. Even if you leave me 5:02
13. At Grigoris’s zeibekiko 2:14
14. My sea love 3:25
15. Greetings 3:59
16. Love lives with dreams 3:17
17. Solitude 3:47
18. Orphaned and alone on the road 4:03
19. Magical night 3:54

ll titles composed, played and sung by Mikis Theodorakis

CD2 „Vardia“: sung by George Dalaras /

Bouzouki played by Lakis Karnezis

Produced by Asteris Kutulas

Private Recordings comprises 43 audio tracks by Mikis Theodorakis, most of which were captured on July 24, 1979 and December 27, 1983 at his home in the seaside town of Vrachati. Recorded on tape or cassette, these sessions also capture the surrounding sounds: waves crashing, cicadas chirping, telephones ringing, wind blowing, voices near and far, and dogs barking. Originally, these recordings were intended as drafts for concert premieres and LP/CD productions. In these raw versions – where Theodorakis both sings and plays the piano – he aimed to convey the musical shape and emotional tone of his songs to his singers and musicians. The only exception is the track “Vardia” („Night Shift“), where George Dalaras takes over the vocals during a rehearsal, adding a unique colour to the piece. Six of the recordings feature Lakis Karnezis, one of Theodorakis’ most important soloists and one of Greece’s greatest bouzouki players, who also contributed to the original 1964 recording of the iconic Zorba the Greek soundtrack. It is deeply moving to witness the musical dialogue between Theodorakis and Karnezis.

In 1985, I came across these recordings by chance during my early research for the Theodorakis catalogue. Although never meant for release, their authenticity and emotional depth struck me so profoundly that I shared them with theatre director Alexander Stillmark. With Theodorakis’ explicit approval, Stillmark used the material in 1987 as the score for his stage adaptation of Georg Büchner’s “Woyzeck”.

Part of the Private Recordings was released in 2010 as a CD supplement to the photo-biography “Mikis Theodorakis – A Life in Pictures”. Now, on the occasion of the composer’s centenary, the full set is being made available to the public – including 19 previously unreleased recordings, as well as two *world premiere songs by Theodorakis: “The House” and “Bare Feet”.

(Asteris Kutulas, June 1, 2025)

The original analogue tapes were carefully restored and digitally remastered by Intuition.

Private Recordings is a unique historical document that captures the unmistakable artistic voice of Mikis Theodorakis in its purest form – a tribute to one of the most important composers of the 20th century, whose life and work, as Greek Minister of Culture Lina Mendoni emphasizes, “represent an inalienable cultural heritage for Greece and the Greek people.”