Concerto for Two Violins and Orchestra (1944–45; orchestrated by Kostis Demertzis); Concertino for Two Pianos and Orchestra (1935); Characteristic Piece ‘Nocturnal Amusement’ for xylophone and orchestra (1949)

Georgios Demertzis & Simos Papanas, violins; Maria Asteriadou & Nikolaos Samaltanos pianos; Dimitris Desyllas, xylophone;
Thessaloniki State Symphony Orchestra, Vassilis Christopoulos

• The principal work her is Skalkottas’ Concerto for Two Violins, composed in 1944-45, but left in short score at the time of the composer’s death four years later. The present orchestration was made by Skalkottas specialist Kostis Demertzis. The concerto is interesting in that it combines two strands of Skalkottas’ musical oeuvre: the original serial techniques developed by this student of Schoenberg and the interest in popular Greek music, here exemplified by the inclusion of a rebetiko theme in the second movement. Another work in the vein of what has been called Skalkottas’s ‘Mediterranean serialism’ is the Concertino for two pianos, while the brief concluding Nocturnal Amusement is a light-hearted show-piece for xylophone and orchestra.