The BIS Survey of Skalkottas’ Chamber Music

This past Monday I began playing catch-up with the albums of music by the Greek composer Nikos Skalkottas produced by Sweden-based BIS records. My project began by writing about three CDs of orchestral music conducted by Nikos Christodoulou. This article will turn to the next five CDs that BIS released, all of which are recordings of chamber music.

As was the case with the orchestral albums, almost all of the compositions that were recorded provided further exposure to Skalkottas’ personal approach to atonality. However, because fewer instruments are involved in chamber music, the attentive listener can better appreciate the extent to which the qualities of the sounds themselves tend to serve as a substitute for the progressions of tonal harmony. Those qualities are often enhanced through unique approaches to rhythm, often involving polyrhythmic interplay among the instruments involved in the chamber ensemble.

The members of the New Hellenic Quartet on the cover of one of the Skalkottas string quartet albums (courtesy of Naxos of America)

It that context I should probably begin by enumerating the instrumental resources for each of the five CDs:

1. Violin and piano
2. String quartet
3. String quartet
4. Duos with violin
5. Cello and piano

To clarify these categories at bit further, I should note that the first CD begins with a solo violin sonata; and there are two piano trio selections on the fifth CD. Both of the quartet albums are performed by the New Hellenic Quartet, which was founded by violinist Georgio Demertzis. If I am to believe Discogs, the other members of the quartet are cellist Apostolos Chandrakis, violinist Dimitrios Chandrakis, and violist Paris Anastasiadis.

As I worked my way through these albums, I began to appreciate how the transparency of chamber music provided more insights into Skalkottas’ approach to atonality than I had encountered in the orchestral selections. Skalkottas clearly had considerable inventiveness in his sonorities, but they are more evident for appreciation when one listens to the chamber music. Nevertheless, I have found it frustrating to search for background material that would provide deeper insights into not only his techniques as a composer but also the ways in which chamber music performers prepared both performances and recordings of his music.

The Internet has not been as generous to Skalkottas as it has been to any number of his contemporaries!