By Aggeliki Tzola (A class)

In the early 1980s, a glib advertising campaign began to appear before every Christmas. It featured a beautifully wrapped album and the slogan “Give the Gift of Music”.

The implication was that buying your friends or relations a record was the obvious answer to the annual present-choosing dilemma. But as anybody who has spent the weeks up to Christmas desperately trying to fathom the musical preferences of a cousin or sister-in-law can tell you, that is simply not true. Buy someone the right album, and you could enrich their life. Buy someone the wrong album and it is hard not to notice the look of disappointment as they lift the wrapping paper.

There are two rules about buying albums as a Christmas present. First, steer clear of the novelty purchase and second, avoid anything too difficult. Such albums will get played twice, laughed at once then never touched again. Christmas is about easy-access entertainment, not challenging art. Other than that is a minefield. The truth is that people’s tastes are personal and frequently difficult to guess.

By Nick Fotopoulos (B Class)

The percussion & string orchestra was founded by Thanasis Tsipinakis in 1985. The orchestra has given more than 50 concerts not only in Greece but also in other countries all over the world such as Spain, France, Japan and others. Many important composers have written music for the orchestra including Dimitris Lagios, Giorgos Andreou, Giannis Markopoulos and many more. The orchestra has recorded 9 records:

1. «Zakinthines Serenades«, which includes pieces written by the composer Tzortzis Kostis (1988)
2. «Works of Percussion Orchestra«, D. Lagios (1989)
3. Pieces by Kiriakos Tzortzinakis – Gerasimos Voutsinas (1990)
4. «Greek Serenades» (1990)
5. «Cracks«, D. Lagios (1992)
6. «Small Nocturnal Musics«, N. Mavroudis (1992)
7.  «From Theatre and Cinema«, Mikis Theodorakis (1998)
8. «5 COUNTRIES – 5 COMPOSERS» (2000), Antonius Streichart, Yasuo Kuwahara, Robert Schulz, John Goodin and Yiorgos Andreou
9. «Swallows of Rain» (2000), Yiorgos Andreou, poetry by Dionisis Karatzas