This SACD's substantial program illustrates the techniques and styles Nikolaos Skalkottas explored in his last 12 years, and reveals him to be much more than just another dutiful disciple of Schoenberg. Connected groups of twelve-tone rows are employed in both the Concerto No. 2 for piano and orchestra (1937) and the Tema con variazioni (1949), while free atonality is used in the Little Suite for strings (1942), and undisguised traditional tonality in the Four Images (1948). One may deduce from the interchangeability of methods that Skalkottas' personal expression required flexibility with procedures, and that his use of Schoenberg's system -- or any other -- could never be dogmatic. Insofar as Skalkottas expresses in his Concerto a heady mixture of post-Romantic lavishness with Expressionistic angst, he sounds similar to Berg; yet he refined his language and adopted a dryer, neo-Classical outlook in the 1940s, which is apparent to varying degrees in the remaining works, regardless of the different methods of pitch organization. Pianist Geoffrey Douglas Madge asserts himself in the Concerto, though the solo part is rather densely supported by the orchestra, and occasionally Madge's sound is absorbed into the thick textures. The
BBC Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Nikos Christodoulou, is clear and resonant, and the 5.0 sound is exceptional.