Nikos Skalkottas

[SKALKOTTAS]

A Mozart of our time. . ."1, ". . . a miracle that happened in this country (Greece). . ."2, ". . . a volcanic talent"3, ". . . of the hundreds of my pupils, only a few have become composers: Webern, Berg, . . . Skalkottas . . .
What about skalkottas my friends? I think skalkottas is one of the greatest composers! his piano concerto no.2 is the greatest 20th century piano concerto in my opinion! what about this miracle?

[bhodges]

There was a short Skalkottas thread on the old board, here.  While I don't know much of his music, friends who do rave about him.  Do you have specific recordings to recommend?

--Bruce

[SKALKOTTAS]

yeah! check the bis records site.  http://www.bis.se/index.php?sokTyp=namn&sokText=skalkottas&Skicka=Search%21
espesially the piano concerto no.2 recording from bis with bbc orchestra!

[Maciek]

I've got his The Sea and The Return of Ulysses Overture waiting to be listened to. I'll report back when I finally get to it.

[BachQ]

I enjoy AK 11.

[M forever]

Skalkottas wrote a bass concerto, so he must be good. I would like to hear that piano concerto. Can you post some clips?

[BachQ]

Skalkottas wrote a bass concerto, so he must be good.

Careful ......... Saul wrote a bass concerto ..........

[M forever]

Really?

[SKALKOTTAS]

click and listen a sample!     here : http://www.bis.se/naxos.php?aID=BIS-SACD-1484

[M forever]

Thanks for the link, but these clips are so massively compressed, I don't want to listen to them. Can you rip and upload a few samples for us in flac or higher res mp3?

[SKALKOTTAS]

yes! i understand! but i think that sound of that half time clips is good! sorry!  i dont have any mp3 to upload! only return of ulysses but is gigantic! 28 minutes!

[M forever]

But you do know how to rip files to mp3, right?

[SKALKOTTAS]

i dont think so! i tried to convert audio cd tracks to mp3 but without results! give me your email to send you attach with some music

[M forever]

Well, it would be better if you would share some clips with all the people here. Attaching longer clips to emails often doesn't work and is deadly slow.

You can easily rip tracks from CD and convert them to mp3 with a number of programs. You probably have Windows Media Player. That can that, too, it'only a few easy steps. You can look that up in WMP Help.

[SKALKOTTAS]

http://www.esnips.com/web/GMnoob/
go here and listen the third movement from sonatina for cello and piano (1949)

[SonicMan46]

There was a short Skalkottas thread on the old board, here.  While I don't know much of his music, friends who do rave about him.  Do you have specific recordings to recommend?

Bruce - thanks for that link above - I even had one post & was planning to obtain some discs but never responded again - however, I did pick up a few CDs, and wanted to obtain more but the two below (both recommended) are the ones I own currently, so looking forward to other recommendations:

 

[SKALKOTTAS]

2 new tracks by skalkottas (fox-trot for quartet and second movement from little suite for strings)
here: http://www.esnips.com/web/GMnoob/

[Drasko]

Here are two randomly chosen dances from the first book, if anyone wants to sample

http://rapidshare.com/files/41751624/Tsamikos.zip.html

[paul]

Skalkottas wrote a bass concerto, so he must be good. I would like to hear that piano concerto. Can you post some clips?

The bass concerto isn't one of my favorites, but still quite good and worth a listen. The main problem is that the orchestration is so heavy that I imagine that it would be impossible to hear the DB in a live setting without considerable amplification. The situation is much like that of Eduard Tubin's concerto, but even worse. The recording I have with Vassilis Papavassiliou and the Iceland Symphony Orchestra under Nikos Christodoulou on BIS is very well played, but it's not always easy to hear Papavassiliou over the ISO.

[SKALKOTTAS]

This is a truly great concerto that repays careful listening! the problem of balance(of sound) is not by skalkottas writing but  of a conductor's job ! its very dificcult concerto and dont forget that is a world premiere recording! opinions sorry for my english!