Nikos Skalkottas was such a good tonal composer that you have to wonder why he wasted so much time on his gnarly, atonal stuff. The Sea is a magnificent ballet suite 45 minutes long, full of memorable, colorful ideas. I dare you not to love the “Dance of the Waves”, or the miniature tone-poem toward the end, “The Tale of Alexander the Great”. This was one of Skalkottas’ last works, dating from 1948-49, and the music certainly withstands comparison to any ballet music of its era in terms of sheer quality. If you like big, splashy, romantic scores with an ethnic flavor, then you simply must hear it. The Four Images sound like outtakes from the 36 Greek Dances–music of great melodic and rhythmic appeal. Cretan Feast actually is an orchestration by Skalkottas of a work by Dimitri Mitropoulos, and it sounds just like what its title promises: a party. All of the music here is extremely well played and conducted. It’s obvious that Byron Fidetzis finds the idiom comfortable, and the Iceland Symphony sounds terrific thanks to typically resplendent BIS engineering. This one’s a no-brainer: buy it. [3/2/2006]
