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Skalkottas - Piano Concerto No.3

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Catalogue numberBIS-1364 CD
Release date2004-04-28
Discs1
Total time80:53

BBC Music Magazine: outstanding; International Record Review: outstanding; Klassik Heute: outstanding.

Geoffrey Douglas Madge and Nikos Christodoulou have already collaborated on a previous Skalkottas recording for BIS (BIS-CD-1014). Now the turn has come to Concerto No. 3 for Piano and Ten Wind Instruments, written in 1939 and one of Skalkottas’s most individual creations.

It is said that the composer was particularly fond of this work; however, as with most of his works, he never heard it performed. The concerto was premièred in London in 1969 but, because of the extraordinary demands of the solo part, three different pianists shared its movements. In 1985 Geoffrey Douglas Madge became the first to play the entire concerto.

On this world première recording Madge is supported by members of the Caput Ensemble, the seasoned Icelandic chamber group, and by conductor and Skalkottas’ expert Nikos Christodoulou, who has made a critical revision of the monumental – 65 minutes long – score. (Christodoulou’s indefatigable work for the sake of his compatriot was crowned last year when his recording with the BBC Symphony Orchestra of the 36 Greek Dances (BIS-CD-1333/1334) was given highest marks in several of the world’s leading music magazines.)

Complementing the concerto and showing us another, completely different, face of this intriguing composer is the ballet suite The Gnomes. Composed in the same year as Concerto No. 3, the music was long considered lost until its recent discovery. Proof of its maker’s gift for pastiche, its 14 brief movements are Skalkottas’s arrangements of pieces from Bartók’s well-loved For Children, Greek folk-songs and original compositions, all brought to life by eleven of the musicians –flute, oboe, trumpet, strings and percussion – of the Caput Ensemble under Nikos Christodoulou.
 
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Extra material for download
 
 
  Composer: Skalkottas, Nikos
  Concerto No.3 for Piano and Ten Wind Instruments (1939) 65:27
01 I. Moderato 21:14 $ 3.19 USD
02 II. Andante sostenuto 25:47 $ 3.87 USD
03 III. Allegro giocoso 18:26 $ 2.77 USD
 
  The Gnomes, ballet music (1939) 13:48
04 I. Introduction 00:45 $ 0.11 USD
05 II. Espressivo molto 01:21 $ 0.20 USD
06 III. The Gnomes in the Underworld 00:53 $ 0.13 USD
07 IV. Carol 00:30 $ 0.08 USD
08 V. Hearth 02:41 $ 0.40 USD
09 VI. Carol 00:24 $ 0.06 USD
10 VII. The Gnomes (I) 00:29 $ 0.07 USD
11 VIII. The Gnomes (II) 01:03 $ 0.16 USD
12 IX. The Monster 00:45 $ 0.11 USD
13 X. Chase 00:57 $ 0.14 USD
14 XI. Dismissal 00:51 $ 0.13 USD
15 XII. Chorale 00:32 $ 0.08 USD
16 XIII. The Song of Joy 01:42 $ 0.26 USD
17 XIV. Finale 00:55 $ 0.14 USD
 
  Album total 80:53
EnsembleCaput Ensemble
PianoMadge, Geoffrey Douglas
ComposerSkalkottas, Nikos
ConductorChristodoulou, Nikos

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