Composer: Nikos Skalkottas
Performer: Lorenda Ramou
Audio CD
Number of Discs: 1
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Bis
Size: 1.22 GB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
Skalkottas: Griechische Suite
01. I. Allegretto
02. II. Andantino
03. III. Presto – Andantino
Skalkottas: Suite (1924) 1
04. I. — [Fragment]
05. II. Molto moderato
06. III. Shimmy Tempo
Skalkottas: Sonatina for Piano
07. I. Allegretto vivace
08. II. Siciliano
09. III. Finale
10. Skalkottas: 15 Little Variations for Piano
Skalkottas: Suite No. 2
11. I. Largo
12. II. Gavottes I & II
13. III. Rapsodie. Molto moderato
14. IV. Marsch. Allegro
Skalkottas: Suite No. 3 1
15. I. Menuetto
16. II. Thema con variazioni. Lento
17. III. Marcia funebra. Maestoso
18. IV. Finale. Allegro vivace
Skalkottas: Suite No. 4
19. I. Toccata. Vivace
20. II. Andantino. Con grazia
21. III. Polka. Tempo di polka moderato
22. IV. Serenade. Allegro moderato
Skalkottas: The Gnomes, ballet music 2
23. I. Introduction
24. II. Exertion
25. III. Majestic Dance
26. IV. Fast Cretan Dance
27. V. Intermezzo lirico
28. VI. Finale I
29. I. Epilogue
30. II. Intermezzo (Chorale)
31. III. Finale II
The choice of works on this amply filled album, as well as the performances are the result of Lorenda Ramou’s research into the artistic environment of Nikos Skalkottas, in Berlin (1921–33) and in Athens (1933–49). The programme is organized as a triptych, focusing on three distinctive compositional styles. First, all surviving Berlin works for piano solo are presented in chronological order, showing how the young composer was reacting to the new and exciting jazz/dance music, but also to the people around him and to events in the musical world of Berlin in the 1920s. This is followed by Suites Nos 2, 3 and 4, a group of mature works composed at the beginning of World War II (1940–41). Closing the release, finally, is the dance suite The Gnomes, probably composed in 1939 and one of a group of piano scores for ballets with Greek subjects. Lorenda Ramou has previously released ‘The Land and the Sea of Greece’ – an album of precisely such scores by Skalkottas – which earned her praise from the reviewer in Gramophone: ‘Her playing is full of verve and alive to the delicacy of Skalkottas’s writing.’