Nikos Skalkottas - 7 Greek Dances (nos. 1-4)

Nikos Skalkottas (1904-1949)

Seven Greek Dances (1931-36)
1. Epirotikos; Moderato
2. Kretikos; Allegretto moderato (2:00)
3. Tsamikos; Allegro moderato (3:38)
4. Thessalikos; Allegro vivace (5:55)

Malmö Symphony Orchestra conducted by Nikos Christodoulou

Skalkottas composed his thirty-six Greek Dances, one of his best known and most important works, between 1931 and 1936. He worked at revising it periodically until the last year of his life, completing three full manuscripts with orchestral revisions and, in a few of the dances, changes in the composition. He also did several transcriptions of individual dances for various combinations of instruments. The posthumously published version for strings soon became popular.

The Greek Dances show both harmonic and formal originality. Skalkottas's exploratory use of the Greek folk material is inspired - a landmark in Greek music.

The titles of the dances refer either to regions of Greece and their music - e.g. "Epirotikos" (Epirus), "Kretikos" (Crete), "Thessalikos" (Thessaly), "Ardikos" (Arcadia, Peloponnese), or to a type of folk-dance - e.g. "Tsamikos, Kleftikos", or sometimes to the title of a folk-song, such as "Mariori mou". In Kretikos, Tsamikos and Mariori mou Skalkottas uses traditional folk melodies. In Epirotikos, Thessalikos, Arkadikos and Kleftikos the composer invents his own thematic ideas.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Nikos
• Skalkottas
• Greek
• Dances

[electroall9]

ligo argi mou fenete i ektelesi auti..

[rocomail]

@gotterhaus Hard to know, elegant you mean slower ... maybe ... Tempo indication for this piece says MODERATO (Epirotikos) so i think is closer to composer indication of tempo ...

[gatoulis25]

@electroall9 ΜΗ ΣΟΥ ΦΑΙΝΕΤΑΙ ΔΕΝ ΕΙΝΑΙ ΕΙΝΑΙ ΑΚΡΙΒΩΣ ΣΤΟ TEMPO ΓΙΑ ΤΟ ΣΥΓΚΕΚΡΙΜΕΝΟ ΣΥΝΟΛΟ ΕΙΝΑΙ ΜΙΑ ΜΕΤΕΓΓΡΑΦΗ ΤΟΥ ΣΚΑΛΚΩΤΑ ΓΙΑ ΟΡΧΗΣΤΡΑ ΕΝΓΧΟΡΔΩΝ 

[SlightlyRabid]

Far too pretty. Not folky enough.

[electroall9]

ligo argi mou fenete i ektelesi auti..

[gotterhaus]

This interpretation is very different from the ones I'm used to listen. Do you know if this closer to Skalkottas' intentions? I find it more elegant and captivating.