Nikos Skalkottas is one of the very few composers who managed to create successful tonal and atonal works at the same time. This disc contains...

Nikos Skalkottas is one of the very few composers who managed to create successful tonal and atonal works at the same time. This disc contains both. The Maiden and Death is a ballet based on Greek folk music, and the composer stated that the 25-minute orchestral suite (which plays without interruption) should be regarded as an independent symphonic poem. The piece is drop-dead gorgeous, and will thrill fans of late-Romantic Nationalist music. Both of the remaining items on this disc are 12-tone pieces. Skalkottas differed from his composition teacher, Arnold Schoenberg, in that he insisted on using several tone-rows in each movement, arranged in a clearly melodic manner. Apparently this was the cause of a serious break between the two men (people really cared about that sort of thing back then), but the result is a wholly personal atonal idiom that, while not exactly ingratiating at first listen, does repay repeated investigation. In all honesty, given the unfamiliarity of the music, it's impossible to say whether or not these performances are as good as I suspect they are, but pianist Geoffrey Douglas Madge, conductor Nikos Christodoulou, and his brave Icelandic band play with total conviction, and you won't be bored for a minute. --David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com