International Journal of Music and Performing Arts

The Ancient Greek March by Nikos Skalkottas: A Contribution to the Expansion of the Original Greek Music Repertoire for Wind Orchestra
Dr. Kostis Hassiotis

Abstract
It is widely accepted that most of the original works by Greek composers for wind ensembles are seldom performed, either in Greece or worldwide. Even works with high aesthetic value, despite the international recognition of their composers, have not succeeded in forming part of a ―canonic‖ wind orchestra repertoire. Access to most of them remains difficult, since they exist mostly in manuscript form, often in private collections; their scores include many mistakes, omissions or are difficult to read; recordings are few, of bad quality, or old; finally, there exists no annotated bibliography or a system of gradated difficulty. The present article discusses Nikos Skalkottas‘s works for wind ensembles, focusing especially on his Ancient Greek March and in particular on its transcription for wind orchestra by the composer himself. Issues of editing and performance practice, including instrumentation, dynamics, articulation and assignment of musicians and parts are also discussed.

Full Text: PDF     DOI: 10.15640/ijmpa.v6n1a2