Skalkottas: Orchestral Works Athens State Orchestra & Stefanos Tsialis

• Nikos Skalkottas (1904 - 1949): 36 Greek Dances for Orchestra, AK 11, Series 1:
• 1Skalkottas: 36 Greek Dances for Orchestra, AK 11, Series 1: No. 1, Tsamikos (Enas aitos)02:21
• 2Skalkottas: 36 Greek Dances for Orchestra, AK 11, Series 1: No. 2, Cretikos01:36
• 3Skalkottas: 36 Greek Dances for Orchestra, AK 11, Series 1: No. 3, Epirotikos02:25
• 4Skalkottas: 36 Greek Dances for Orchestra, AK 11, Series 1: No. 4, Peloponnissiakos04:09
• 5Skalkottas: 36 Greek Dances for Orchestra, AK 11, Series 1: No. 5, Critikos (Allo choro den cherome)01:46
• 6Skalkottas: 36 Greek Dances for Orchestra, AK 11, Series 1: No. 6, Klephtikos02:41
• 7Skalkottas: 36 Greek Dances for Orchestra, AK 11, Series 1: No. 7, Sifneikos01:05
• 8Skalkottas: 36 Greek Dances for Orchestra, AK 11, Series 1: No. 8, Kalamatianos01:36
• 9Skalkottas: 36 Greek Dances for Orchestra, AK 11, Series 1: No. 9, Dance of Zalongo02:15
• 10Skalkottas: 36 Greek Dances for Orchestra, AK 11, Series 1: No. 10, Macedonikos01:57
• 11Skalkottas: 36 Greek Dances for Orchestra, AK 11, Series 1: No. 11, Kritikos (Pedia ke pios to petaxe?)01:50
• 12Skalkottas: 36 Greek Dances for Orchestra, AK 11, Series 1: No. 12, Thessalikos01:32
• The Sea Suite, AK 14 (Excerpts) [Version for Chamber Orchestra]:
• 13Skalkottas: The Sea Suite, AK 14 (Excerpts) [Version for Chamber Orchestra]: IV. The Trawler03:51
• 14Skalkottas: The Sea Suite, AK 14 (Excerpts) [Version for Chamber Orchestra]: VII. Nocturne04:47
• 15Skalkottas: The Sea Suite, AK 14 (Excerpts) [Version for Chamber Orchestra]: III. Dance of the Waves03:38
• Symphonic Suite No. 1, AK 3a:
• 16Skalkottas: Symphonic Suite No. 1, AK 3a: I. Overture07:47
• 17Skalkottas: Symphonic Suite No. 1, AK 3a: II. Tema con variazioni03:24
• 18Skalkottas: Symphonic Suite No. 1, AK 3a: III. March03:34
• 19Skalkottas: Symphonic Suite No. 1, AK 3a: IV. Romance07:26
• 20Skalkottas: Symphonic Suite No. 1, AK 3a: V. Siciliano. Barcarole05:43
• 21Skalkottas: Symphonic Suite No. 1, AK 3a: VI. Finale. Rondo07:14
• Total Runtime01:12:37

Info for Skalkottas: Orchestral Works

Nikos Skalkottas was the foremost Greek composer of the 20th century, and his 36 Greek Dances is undoubtedly 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 in 1933, and he later reconstructed it from memory.

"In September 1949, the sudden death of Nikos Skalkottas, at the age of forty-five, robbed Greece of one of the most gifted composers the nation had ever produced.

Before that day dawned he had composed more than a hundred works in every mode of classical music, starting out as a member of the Second Viennese School before later in life returning to the listener-friendly format of tonality. This new release charts the differing sectors of his composing portfolio, beginning when he was twenty-five with the First Suite that came when he was still resolving in his own mind the virtues of atonality, its six movements each given a thematic title. The thirty-five minutes length described as a ‘cornerstone’ in his life as a composer. Begun while he was a member of Arnold Schoenberg’s class, the original score became lost and it was many years later he put it down again from memory. After an Overture, that includes atonality, the gait of the attractive March is self-explanatory, but less so in the thinly scored Romance, while he seems to have totally changed to tonality in the joyful final Rondo. The very nature of Greek Dances created their own style, the complete work of 36 dances eventually divided into three ‘Series’ each of twelve dances that appeared ‘piecemeal’. They were for a populist market, their nature of well-known origin. Without wanting to ‘ape’ those who had recently gone before, Bartok and Kodaly were certainly his influences. They are works for pure enjoyment, rather different to the dances he later used to create a folk ballet, The Sea, an idea that never came to fruition before he died. At the time he was working on several different versions, but are here performed as ‘Three excerpts for Chamber Orchestra’, the titles being The Trawler, Nocturne and Dance of the Waves. Those pictures are captured in pure tonality not that far divorced from French Impressionism. Through many of those years he had earned a living as a violinist in the ensemble that became The Athens State Orchestra, this being their second disc of Skalkottas’s music conducted by Stefanos Tsialis, and I hope they will continue a series with more of his music. From a sound aspect it is excellent." (David’s Review Corner)

Athens State Orchestra
Stefanos Tsialis, conductor

No biography found.

Booklet for Skalkottas: Orchestral Works