Nikos Skalkottas: 32 Piano Pieces

Editorial Reviews
About the Artist
Born in Israeli, pianist Idith Meshulam lives and works in New York City and is a specialist in a wide, stylistically broad range of contemporary music.

Album Description
The immensely prolific Greek composer Nikos Skalkottas (1909-1949) was the favorite student of Arnold Schoenberg, who considered him his most gifted student after Berg and Webern. Here is a rare opportunity to hear the music of this master who was quite totally ignored and/or rejected (like our own Charles Ives) in his own lifetime. He composed more than 200 sometimes very extended works (of Mahlerian proportions), the vast majority of which are only now being recorded and becoming available on CD.

Nikos Skalkottas: 32 Piano Pieces, Music, Idith Meshulam, Chamber Music & Recitals, Classical, Classical Composers, Keyboard, Music for Keyboard
Nikos Skalkottas: 32 Piano Pieces
Average customer rating: 5 out of 5 stars
  • A WONDROUS RARITY
 Nikos Skalkottas: 32 Piano Pieces
Idith Meshulam
Manufacturer: G.M. Recordings
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Chamber MusicChamber Music | Forms & Genres | Classical (c.1770-1830) | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music
GeneralGeneral | Classical | Styles | Music
GeneralGeneral | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music
Similar Items:
  1. Skalkottas: Duos with Violin

ASIN: B000255LUW
Release Date: 2004-07-06

Tracks:

  1. Andante Religioso
  2. Childrens' Dance
  3. Short Variations
  4. Catastrophe In The Jungle
  5. Greek Folk Dance
  6. Reverie In Old Style
  7. Reverie In New Style
  8. Little Four-Part Canon
  9. Marcia Funebra
  10. Sonatina
  11. Partita
  12. Little Serenade
  13. Intermezzo
  14. Tango
  15. Passacaglia
  16. Night Music

Tracks:

  1. Morning Serenade Of The Little Maid
  2. Foxtrot - The Old Policeman
  3. Fantastic Etude
  4. Lullaby
  5. Romance - Lied
  6. Gavotte
  7. Menuetto
  8. Italian Serenade
  9. Ragtime (Dance)
  10. Slow Foxtrot
  11. Gallop
  12. Blues
  13. Rondo Brillante
  14. Caprice
  15. Waltz
  16. Little Peasant March

Album Description

The immensely prolific Greek composer Nikos Skalkottas (1909-1949) was the favorite student of Arnold Schoenberg, who considered him his most gifted student after Berg and Webern. Here is a rare opportunity to hear the music of this master who was quite totally ignored and/or rejected (like our own Charles Ives) in his own lifetime. He composed more than 200 sometimes very extended works (of Mahlerian proportions), the vast majority of which are only now being recorded and becoming available on CD.

Customer Reviews:

5 out of 5 stars A WONDROUS RARITY.......2004-08-04

The Thirty-Two Piano Pieces of Greek composer Nikos Skalkottas (1904-1949) are brave, eccentric, unique and gritty works of metaphysical profundity. Cast in his own very personal musical idiom, Skalkottas' compositions bend the parameters of harmony and discord as well as the parameters of emotional expression. With a dash of Bartok, a pinch of Schoenberg, Stravinsky and Debussy, a smidgen of Scriabin, Bach and Beethoven, and more than a speck of Satie (on steroids), the mix becomes one of exceptional fascination. This Skalkottas "brew" is potent stuff gloriously rich in atonal pungency, complex chordal arrays and mesmerizing lyrical sequences--- ruminations laced with unsettling exclamatory outbursts juxtaposed by periods of unnerving quietude. Yet, simultaneously, the composer will broadside us with a jazz riff inordinately and gleefully perverse; or, a lyrical episode of portentous mysticality. Savored thoughtfully over many days, rather than drained in one sitting, this challenging, thought-provoking music, given time, intoxicates and bewitches.

Israeli-born pianist Idith Meshulam, a talent to reckon with, plays with energetic moxie and aplomb, her technique truly phenomenal. And, yet, her subtle coloring of the introspective passages is no less awe-inspiring. It is no mean feat to keep the Thirty-Two Piano Pieces vital and individual, each etched empathetically. Few pianists would, or could. It is obvious to me that Ms. Meshulam has recorded here a devotional "testament" to a composer she clearly regards with the deepest respect, understanding and love. Every note she plays rings true; every ingredient in the mix pure.

It stands to reason that such a performance should have the most extraordinary sound, and so it does. Engineer Joel Gordon has captured, bar none, the finest piano image I have ever heard. Each register is defined, the instrument up front, full and without intrusive ambience. It is mouth-dropping realism that allows composer, performer and music to meld.

[Running time--- CD 1: 52:31 CD 2: 51:02]




Bartok, Francaix, Khachaturian, Poulenc and others: Chamber Music
Average customer rating: Not rated
    		Bartok, Francaix, Khachaturian, Poulenc and others: Chamber Music

    Manufacturer: Angel Records
    ProductGroup: Music
    Binding: Audio CD

    DuetsDuets | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music
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    All Works by ProkofievAll Works by Prokofiev | Prokofiev, Sergei | ( P ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music
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    SymphoniesSymphonies | Forms & Genres | Classical | Styles | Music | Baroque | Classical | General | Modern & 20th Century | Romantic | Sinfonia | Sinfonia Concertante
    GeneralGeneral | Classical | Styles | Music
    ASIN: B000009OQQ
    Release Date: 1998-08-11

    Tracks:

    1. Introduction & Allegro For Flute, Clarinet, Harp & String Quartet
    2. Trio For Oboe, Bassoon & Piano: I: Presto
    3. Trio For Oboe, Bassoon & Piano: II: Andante
    4. Trio For Oboe, Bassoon & Piano: III: Rondo
    5. Sonata For Clarinet & Bassoon: I: Allegro
    6. Sonata For Clarinet & Bassoon: II: Romance
    7. Sonata For Clarinet & Bassoon: III: Finale
    8. Divertissement For Oboe, Clarinet & Bassoon: I: Prelude
    9. Divertissement For Oboe, Clarinet & Bassoon: II: Allegretto Assai
    10. Divertissement For Oboe, Clarinet & Bassoon: III: Elegie
    11. Divertissement For Oboe, Clarinet & Bassoon: IV: Scherzo
    12. Divertissement For Bassoon & String Quartet: I: Vivace
    13. Divertissement For Bassoon & String Quartet: II: Lento
    14. Divertissement For Bassoon & String Quartet: III: Vivo Assai
    15. Divertissement For Bassoon & String Quartet: IV: Allegro
    16. Suite For Violin, Clarinet & Piano: I: Ouverture
    17. Suite For Violin, Clarinet & Piano: II: Divertissement
    18. Suite For Violin, Clarinet & Piano: III: Jeu
    19. Suite For Violin, Clarinet & Piano: IV: Introduction Et Finale

    Tracks:

    1. Contrasts For Violin, Clarinet & Piano: I. Recruiting Dance-Moderato, Ben Ritmico
    2. Contrasts For Violin, Clarinet & Piano: II. Relaxation - Lento
    3. Contrasts For Violin, Clarinet & Piano: III. Fast Dance - Allegro Vivace
    4. Octet: I: Allegro Moderato
    5. Octet: II: Andante Cantabile
    6. Octet: III: Presto
    7. Eight Variations On A Greek Folk Tune
    8. Trio For Clarinet, Violin & Piano: I: Andante Con Dolore, Con Molto Espressione
    9. Trio For Clarinet, Violin & Piano: II: Allegro
    10. Trio For Clarinet, Violin & Piano: III: Moderato
    11. Overture On Hebrew Themes, Op 34

    Track Listings:

    1. O Primavera: Madrigale, Arie, Lamenti
    2. Phalba
    3. Poeta de Arrabal
    4. Puccini: La Boheme [Import]
    5. Rodion Shchedrin: Carmen Suite; Concertos for Orchestra Nos. 1 & 2
    6. Rossini: Le siége de Corinthe
    7. Rossini: Opera Arias and Overtures with Maria Bayo and Rinaldo Alessandrini
    8. Sauguet: Symphony Nos. 3 & 4
    9. Scriabin: Etudes op.8, Preludes op.11, Poemes op.32 / Kuschnerova
    10. Shenandoah: Three Electronic Works

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    track listings

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    Man On A Mission

    Jazz Fiddler on the Roof

    Touch/Fumbling Towards Ecstasy [Import]

    Necessary Roughness [Import]

    Nina: The Essential Nina Simone

    Milhaud: Pacem In Terris

    Read My Mind

    Milford Graves Percussion Ensemble

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    Out of Ford City

    Pure Techno

    Songs For The Soul, from the best selling book, 'Shoes For The Spirit, Encouragements'

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