Skalkottas - Catastrophe in the Jungle

"Catastrophe in the Jungle" from 32 Piano Pieces (1940)

Nikolaos Skalkottas (1904-1949) was a significant Greek composer who wrote dodecaphonic and atonal music mostly influenced by the Second Viennese School. Skalkottas began violin lessons as early as five years old, but later abandoned performance in favor of composition. He studied with Kurt Weill and Philipp Jarnach (a pupil of Busoni), and also attended the masterclasses of Schoenberg, who described Skalkottas as one of his most talented pupils. Skalkottas was a prolific composer of chamber, instrumental, orchestral, and stage works. His piano music is typically virtuosic, with disjunct leaps, complicated textures, and continual syncopations. With the exception of his tonal and nationalist works, much of Skalkottas's output remained unpublished and unperformed until after his death.