Nikos Skalkottas String Quartet No. 4 mvt III

Nikos Skalkottas (1904-1949) is one of the greatest Greek composers of the first half of the 20th century. He was born in Chalkis into a family of musicians and was a child prodigy as a violinist, graduating from the Athens Conservatory at the age of 16. He spent the next 12 years in Berlin where he undertook classes with notable German teachers and composers including Kurt Weill and Arnold Schoenberg who counted Skalkottas among his best and most talented students. During his stay in Berlin the composer developed his personal musical idiom based on Shoenberg's twelve tone theory. His compositions written after 1925 are nowadays considered mature. In 1933, as Hitler was rising to power, he returned to Greece, leaving his many compositions behind.
In Athens he was working as a violinist in various orchestras and producing arrangements and orchestrations for other composers, theater and ballet. Some of his personal work, especially those that were in a tonal idiom were performed by the Athenian orchestras. His true genius was never acknowledged in Greece until after his death.

This largely unknown and unappreciated work of 1940 is one of the last works of Skalkottas for string quartet and a masterful example of his own variation of twelve tone compositional methods. The work was written "for his own desk" (in the composers words) as at the time there was no interest in Greece for this music or any performers capable of making justice to such complexity of thought and musical ingenuity, virtuosity and emotional intensity.

In my opinion this is one of the greatest works of the 20th century chamber music, and without a doubt deserves to be acknowledged as such and be performed more often by string ensembles around the world.

Recording: BIS, September 1999 at the Megaron Concert Hall, Athens,Greece

New Hellenic Quartet
Georgios Demertzis - violin I
Dimitris Chandrakis - violin II
Paris Anastasiades - viola
Apostolos Chandrakis - cello

I do not claim any rights for this video, the rights of the music and the recording belong to their respective holders

Category:

Music

Tags:

• skalkottas
• greek classical music
• 20th century music
• greek composers