I. Allegro moderato

This quartet was composed in Athens 1935. There is an evident difference in style between works of the two periods (Berlin 1921-1933, Athens 1933-1949), judging from those works that have survived: in 1935, Skalkottas was only emerging from a period of depression and the simultaneous cessation of his compositorial activity. The works from his Athens period display a greater severity of the dodecaphonic idiom, greater profundity of musical thought, and are written without a definite view to their public performance. Outstanding: BBC Music Magazine, Fono Forum.