Jean Prodromidès

condition (record/box): NM / NM Box set with booklet.  Jean Prodromidès spreads H.H. Ulysse across a 2LP box on Harmonia Mundi, the scale announcing epic ambitions. The title couples Hermann Hesse's initials with Homer's wanderer, literary references that frame without explaining the music within. Prodromidès studied with Darius Milhaud and Nadia Boulanger, impeccable lineage for a composer whose career unfolded largely in theatrical contexts.

The Ulysses myth had already attracted Luigi Dallapiccola, whose opera traced the wanderer's journey toward self-knowledge. Prodromidès approaches differently, filtering Homer through Hesse's concern with spiritual seeking, the journey inward that mirrors the journey across Mediterranean waters. The double LP permits duration that single discs prohibit, allowing the voyage proper temporal space.

Harmonia Mundi's box set treatment signals serious intentions, packaging appropriate for a work that demands sustained attention. Prodromidès never achieved the fame of his contemporaries, but this release argues for reconsideration. The mythological apparatus serves psychological exploration; the ancient story becomes vehicle for modern interiority. Those patient enough to follow both discs through to conclusion will find rewards that shorter works cannot provide.