Skalkottas wrote impressively and expressionistically for both the piano and the human voice. The cycle of 16 Songs, a virtuosic and peculiarly atonal work, was composed in German-occupied Athens, drawing inspiration from the youthful novel ‘Like Everyone Else’ by Chrysos Evelpidis (a Constantinopolitan agronomist, and subsequently Minister of Agriculture and
Minister of Finance in Greece).
In a sort of interchange, the Greek composer’s songs are preceded by two early works by another pupil of Arnold Schoenberg, Alban Berg: the superb 7 Early Songs, in their original version for piano and voice; the evening opens with Berg’s fine one-movement piano sonata.