CotW Nikos Skalkottas: 23.4.12- 27.4.12

[Panjandrum]

I think it's beholden on composers to be enterprising. After all, Beethoven and Wagner had their patrons, and did not, as far as I am aware,accept government handouts. In the 20th century Coolidge, Koussevitsky and Sacher all commissioned works from both major and, at the time, unknown composers. Why shouldn't we follow the contemporary American example and look for wealthy philanthropists to be patrons of composers? They get the cachet of being a sponsor and having their name or attributes thereof committed to posterity (eg Brandenburg Cons; Dumbarton Oaks) and the composer can move out of his garret and into the first floor apartment, if not the penthouse suite.

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

i disagree ... it is beholden on composers to compose and the rest as they say is ......

[Serial_Apologist]

Without wishing to belittle Skalkottas' exigencies, other composers managed to survive and thrive in that period (e.g. Britten; Prokofiev; Stravinsky).

Context innit? Britten had the comparative comforts of England-on-Sea to return to; Prokofiev Soviet tastes to be taylored to; Stravinsky America; whereas Skalkottas had..........???

But I'm sure you know that, really, stepping from your own comfort zone to make intelligent comment on "difficult modern music" as you often do.

[jayne lee wilson]

The problem I find with some of DM's scripts is that they tend to reinforce the impression of the composer as a paragon of virtue and a sufferer of unwonted misfortune. Without wishing to belittle Skalkottas' exigencies, other composers managed to survive and thrive in that period (e.g. Britten; Prokofiev; Stravinsky). OK, so it might have meant having to do the odd bit of film composition, teaching or performing, or dare one say it - a different type of work entirely (think Larkin, Trollope) to make ends meet, but it could have been done. I do think Donald lays it on with a bit of a trowel and, speaking for myself, I would prefer more focus on the compositions per se and less on the life, except where it is strictly relevant (e.g. Shostakovich).

That's a bit stuffy and complacent, PJ - Skalkottas lived in pre-war Berlin and Nazi-occupied Athens at a time of great turmoil, and earned his living after 1933 as a backdesk violinist in the Athens orchestras, composing more or less what he wanted in both tonal and atonal idioms. I think he needed to be close to the Greek sources of his materials and inspiration, both the twelvetonal and the tonal compositions are shot through with the folk and dance music - I feel he stayed in Athens for that reason, whatever the pressures that led to his return. If he'd gone to USA, who knows? He might have ended up more of a Korngold than a Stravinsky... He himself said that The Sea was close to epic film music in parts, but he simply never got the opportunity to compose for them.

Not a bad selection on CotW, mostly from the very BIS series that I've been following avidly for years - would have liked to see more of the orchestral music included - Piano Concerto No.2, Largo Sinfonico, Theme and Variations, more from The Sea. Most serious omission - the long-forgotten Overture, "The Return of Ulysses" - despite the simple title, this is a huge 30-minute structure, an introduction, exposition and 2 double-themed fugal developments! Then completed with telescoped recap and coda. One of his greatest works, almost a one-movement symphony, it's a shame it's tucked away in the BIS double album of the 36 Dances.

If you don't want to shell out for CDs, there's a good lossless and 24-bit selection at (BIS) eClassical, so you can roll your own.

[Serial_Apologist]

Most serious omission - the long-forgotten Overture, "The Return of Ulysses" - despite the simple title, this is a huge 30-minute structure, an introduction, exposition and 2 double-themed fugal developments! Then completed with telescoped recap and coda. One of his greatest works, almost a one-movement symphony, it's a shame it's tucked away in the BIS double album of the 36 Dances.

A most satisfactory COTW imv. Less coverage of the 12-tone music comprising the bulk, I understand, of Skalkottas's mature oeuvre, but probably offering a more rounded view of this composer than the last time he was COTW, back in the 1980s. I was left with the impression of what might have been Weill's direction, had he studied under Schoenberg rather than Busoni, not met Brecht, not moved to the States, and had he been Greek! A lot more early Weill of the Violin Concerto period and 1920s Bartok and Hindemith than I had previously realised, is in his music. In trying to figure out why Skalkottas's 12-tone-based music communicates more easily than Schoenberg's, I would conclude that Skalkottas's more conventional approach to metre and rhythm would have a lot to do with it: his approaches to cadencing was remarkably "tonal", even at his most atonal and dissonant.

"The Return of Ulysses" was included in the earlier COTW - most if not all of which, as follows, I managed to record onto cassettes:

15 Little Variations for piano (1927) - spread between 2 programmes
Hastianos Keftikos (36 Greek Dances) (1936)
Overture: The Return of Ulysses (1945)
Octet (1931)
Peleponnesiakos/Epirotikos (36 Greek Dances)
String Quartet No 1 (1928)
Evening/The Farmer (16 Songs) (1941)
Ten Sketches for string orchestra (1940)
an authentic dance from Kalemata
Catastrophy in the Jungle, for piano (1932)
Violin Concerto (1938)

Since when Radio 3 has broadcast the hefty Piano Concerto No 2 of 1937

The Ten Sketches listed above were my opening to 12-tone music.

I was pleased that this week's programmes included a brilliant interpretation of the solo Violin Sonata, composed when Skalkottas must have been all of 19 years of age, and which I had not heard broadcast since 1967. And I hope the week has succeeded in introducing Skalkottas's music to a wider public - which is what Radio 3 should be about, after all!

[Bax-of-Delights]

On occasion, when the palate has become a trifle jaded and one thinks that perhaps there is nothing really new to catch your attention up pops CotW to prove you wrong.

Skalkottas is a name that only existed for me at the very periphery of my musical experience but DM's history has been a revelation. Echoes (for me) of Szymanowski and Weill but definitely a singular voice and one that I will follow up more assiduously. The Concerto for Two Violins was especially revelatory.

[jayne lee wilson]

On occasion, when the palate has become a trifle jaded and one thinks that perhaps there is nothing really new to catch your attention up pops CotW to prove you wrong.

Skalkottas is a name that only existed for me at the very periphery of my musical experience but DM's history has been a revelation. Echoes (for me) of Szymanowski and Weill but definitely a singular voice and one that I will follow up more assiduously. The Concerto for Two Violins was especially revelatory.

Go on, BoD, subject yourself to the Concerto No. 3 for Piano and 10 Wind Instruments on BIS, only 65'50, it really should be on CfP...

Taking cover now...

but don't overlook the Ulysses piece, hidden away at the end of the BIS 36 Greek Dances; the challenges are great, the rewards are... up to you.