Skalkottas

The BIS Skalkottas series goes from strength to strength, opening up a series of fascinating doors on the music of this neglected composer. The Third Quartet is a concise, three-movement piece, which seems to have been written at white heat, from its arresting opening, through the lyrical central Andante, to the contrasts of the final rondo. People often complain that they can’t follow serial music, but Skalkottas has a knack of writing memorable melodic shapes and devising contrasting textures which really underpin the musical structure: the first movement is one of the clearest examples of sonata form imaginable. The New Hellenic Quartet, led by Georgios Demertzis, who has already shown his prowess in recordings of Skalkottas’s solo violin music, performs with extraordinary virtuosity, passion and love – qualities which are even more apparent in the Fourth Quartet, a massive piece of amazing power and energy. The angry first movement must be one of the most concentrated eight-and-a-half minutes of music since Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony, while in the extended variations which follow, Skalkottas encompasses an enormous variety of moods. And, after the frenetic scherzo, the short finale (another rondo) reconciles the lyrical and incisive sides of the work. Terrific music – a terrific CD.

This CD is a good one with which to approach Nikos Skalkottas (1904-49) if his music is unfamiliar to you and you prefer orchestral to instrumental music. Unless you are totally allergic to serial music I would also recommend playing the three works in reverse order for an exciting plunge into the deep end! The Ouverture Concertante from the mid-1940s is in Skalkottas's most developed serial method, but there really is no need to bother about that. It is brilliant and exuberant, with solo winds, cello, timpani featured, and a group of four solo violins.

Nikos Skalkottas was the foremost Greek composer of the 20th century, and his 36GreekDancesisundoubtedly the most popular work of Greek art music today and a monument to the nation’s rich cultural heritage. The Sea describes the experiences of a trawler on waters both calm and stormy, while the Suite No. 1 is a cornerstone of Skalkottas’ symphonic output that balances the worlds of atonality and neoclassicism. The piece was amongst manuscripts Skalkottas left behind in Berlin in1933, and he later reconstructed it from memory. The first volume in this series from the Athens State Orchestra (8.574154) was considered ‘a revelation’ by ClassicsToday com.