Romanian Composers beyond Enescu

Started by Florestan, August 03, 2017, 01:43:30 AM

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Florestan

Inspired by another new thread, here it is this long overdue one.

Let's start chronologically, with Alexandru Flechtenmacher (1823 - 1898), one of the earliest Romanian composers of "Western" classical music. Unfortunately, there is no English article on Wikipedia, but if you want to try a Google Translate on the Romanian one (which will probably result in a horror show), here it is:

https://ro.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexandru_Flechtenmacher



As for his music, he mainly composed operas, operettas and vaudevils, but also some symphonic and vocal works.

Here is his Overture on Moldavian National Themes

https://www.youtube.com/v/_TgMvacxV2w

He is best known, though, for composing the music of Hora Unirii (Hora of the Union --- hora is a Romanian popular dance), a famous and very popular patriotic song on the poem of Vasile Alecsandri, celebrating the 1859 Union of Wallachia and Moldavia which resulted in the creation of the modern state of Romania (1862).

https://www.youtube.com/v/i9B0E8GwES0

Although he was of German origin, his name is inextricably linked with the Romanian 19th-century national revival. Here are two more patriotic songs very popular in his time but forbidden during the Communist regime, 1947 - 1989:

Saltă, române! (Rise, you Romanian!)

https://www.youtube.com/v/RpswGhD_rzk

Sfânta zi de libertate (The Holy Day of Freedom)

https://www.youtube.com/v/1qUQHSDB92E

Thanks for reading, please feel free to contribute. To be continued.



Every kind of music is good, except the boring kind. — Rossini

vandermolen

#1
I liked the Overture on Moldavian National Themes which you posted above. The problem with these releases on the fine old but now defunct Olympia label is that they are absurdly expensive online.

Vieru sounds worth exploring. Here is a link to the first movement of his Sixth Symphony 'Exodus':

https://youtu.be/Jk2l90FDsAc
"Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm" (Churchill).

'The test of a work of art is, in the end, our affection for it, not our ability to explain why it is good' (Stanley Kubrick).

Florestan

Quote from: vandermolen on August 03, 2017, 02:17:29 AM
Vieru sounds worth exploring. Here is a link to the first movement of his Sixth Symphony 'Exodus':

https://youtu.be/Jk2l90FDsAc

He was Aram Khatchaturyan's pupil.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anatol_Vieru



This is great, too

Concerto for Flute, Strings and Percussion

https://www.youtube.com/v/Cy7E9yinEAo



Every kind of music is good, except the boring kind. — Rossini

Florestan

Meet Dinu Lipatti the composer.

'Şătrarii' (Les Tziganes), Symphonic Suite, Op. 2 (1934)

https://www.youtube.com/v/oxvP0lbioN0

Concertino in Classical Style for Piano and Chamber Orchestra, Op. 3 (1936)

https://www.youtube.com/v/UNczl_xzk5k

Concertante Symphony for Two Pianos and Orchestra, Op. 5 (1938, dedicated to Charles Munch)

https://www.youtube.com/v/Y0lP7MT36Gg

Sonatina for the Left Hand for Piano, Op. 10 (1941)

https://www.youtube.com/v/S4yVZBlMthE

See the full catalogue here: http://www.dinulipatti.org/





Every kind of music is good, except the boring kind. — Rossini

vandermolen

#4
I sampled the Concerto for Flute and Strings which sounded very good and I detect some influence of Khachaturian such as the quieter moments of Gayaneh and I liked what I sampled of the Concertante Symphony for Two Pianos and Orchestra by Lipatti. I see that Ligeti was born in Romania - I've just acquired a CD featuring his 'Atmospheres' unusually coupled with Shostakovich's 10th Symphony performed by the Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester conducted by David Afkhan.
Also I realise that Constantin Silvestri, best known as a conductor, was Romanian. His recording of Vaughan Williams's Tallis Fantasia in Winchester Cathedral is my favourite version.
"Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm" (Churchill).

'The test of a work of art is, in the end, our affection for it, not our ability to explain why it is good' (Stanley Kubrick).

North Star

Horațiu Rădulescu has his own thread.

Along with Constantin Silvestri, Sergiu Celibidache was another Romanian composer-conductor. He didn't allow his music to be performed, though..
"Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it." - Confucius

My photographs on Flickr

pjme



It is available as download : http://www.deutschegrammophon.com/en/cat/4716122

And, only in German I'm afraid: http://www.celibidache.de/taschengarten.html

I do have that cd . Do not remember clearly what it sounds like....  It is "light and entertaining".

P.

ritter

#7
I recently encountered some music by Ion Nonna Ostecu (1888-1940), namely orchetsral excerpts from his opera De la Matei cetire, conducted by Enescu in New York in 1937. Very atmospheric and rather enjoyable, if not really that memorable (of course, taken out of context like this one cannot get a clear idea of the opera's real value). It's on this CD:



And I've always been intrigued by the name Nicolae Bretan. Nimbus recorded four of his operas (plus some other works IIRC), when such "exotic" fare was not common at all:

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Is anyone familiar with these and willing to share some comments?

Regards,

Florestan

Ion Nonna Otescu

Prelude to "De la Matei cetire" ("From the Times of Matei", referring to Matei Basarab)

https://www.youtube.com/v/TVrHe-82r4Q

Nicolae Bretan

Prelude to "Luceafărul" ("The Evening Star", based on a poem by Mihai Eminescu which you can read in English translation here: http://www.romanianvoice.com/poezii/poezii_tr/eveningstar.php --- the translation has the rhyme scheme ABCB, while the Romanian original is in the ABAB)

https://www.youtube.com/v/VyfFNer-e5E

From 4:10 on the music is based on a traditional Romanian carol, O, ce veste minunată (Oh, What Wondrous News) arranged for mixed choir by Dumitru Georgescu Kiriac

https://www.youtube.com/v/RXENJTLF0Ok



Every kind of music is good, except the boring kind. — Rossini

Florestan

And now, for a different flavour.

Anton Pann (1790-1854)

He gathered and arranged a wide collection of traditional Romanian music from the 17th, 18th and 19th century.

The contemporary "Anton Pann" vocal-instrumental ensemble has released two CDs with his music (a rather Jordi-Savall-esque project).

Listen to them in full, or just sample.

https://www.youtube.com/v/5GzczkhT5Vs

https://www.youtube.com/v/cQ19FelvROw

See the guys live in an open air concert:

https://www.youtube.com/v/laZHbSV0HmE
Every kind of music is good, except the boring kind. — Rossini

vandermolen

Open air concert looked and sounded good.

Just to lower the tone - I don't usually watch the entirety of the Eurovision Song Contest (honest) but as my daughter, working for a charity in Ukraine, was in personal attendance watching on a large screen in Kyiv I felt obliged to do so this year.
Anyway, my vote went to Romania's 'Yodel It' (composer: Mihai Alexandru) which I thought was a hoot.
https://youtu.be/ZSHc7iDuBCQ
I hope that Andrei will forgive me for this.
8)
"Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm" (Churchill).

'The test of a work of art is, in the end, our affection for it, not our ability to explain why it is good' (Stanley Kubrick).

Florestan

Quote from: vandermolen on August 03, 2017, 08:35:33 AM
I hope that Andrei will forgive me for this.

Voting for Romania it's not a fault in my book. On the contrary, I urge you to follow this path wherever it might lead you.  :laugh:
Every kind of music is good, except the boring kind. — Rossini

Ken B

I think Gesualdo must count as an honorary Romanian.

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:laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

Florestan

Quote from: Ken B on August 03, 2017, 08:48:50 AM
I think Gesualdo must count as an honorary Romanian.

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:laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

Holy shit! I really didn't see that coming!  :D :D :D :D :D :D
Every kind of music is good, except the boring kind. — Rossini

vandermolen

Quote from: Florestan on August 03, 2017, 08:39:09 AM
Voting for Romania it's not a fault in my book. On the contrary, I urge you to follow this path wherever it might lead you.  :laugh:
:)
"Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm" (Churchill).

'The test of a work of art is, in the end, our affection for it, not our ability to explain why it is good' (Stanley Kubrick).

Scion7

Alexandru (Adolf) Flechtenmacher
(b Iaşi, 23 Dec 1823; d Bucharest, 28 Jan 1898).
Romanian composer, conductor, violinist and teacher of German descent. The son of a lawyer and schoolteacher from Transylvania, he received his first training in music from Paul Hette and Joseph Leitner, violinists in the French vaudeville company of Iaşi, and at the age of 11 became violinist in the company's orchestra. He then studied with Joseph Boehm and Mayseder in Vienna; there he became Konzertmeister of a theatre orchestra and began to compose. About 1840 he returned to Romania, stopping on the way in Russia and giving a successful concert in Odessa. He played the violin in the German opera orchestra in Iaşi, and later he was made orchestral conductor at the National Theatre, for which he also wrote overtures and incidental music to plays and operettas. Baba Hîrca ('The Witch Hîrca', 1848) is one of the earliest Romanian operettas. These works, together with his patriotic choruses and solo songs, earned him a place as one of the leading pioneers of Romanian music.
After the defeat of the Revolution of 1848 Flechtenmacher taught and conducted in various cities in Romania. He founded the Philharmonic Society of Craiova and the Bucharest Conservatory (1864), of which he was the first director and professor of violin; his pupils included Eduard Wachmann, Constantin Dimitrescu and Robert Klenck. He married Ana Maria Mavrodin, an actress, poet and editor of a women's magazine. She wrote the texts for some of his vocal works, which were inspired by and often written for social and political events of the time; many of them became popular tunes. Most of his manuscripts were destroyed by a fire at his home in 1891.

Instrumental works:
Introduction and Variations, on themes from Norma, Violin-String Quartet (Vienna, 1840)
National Moldavian Overture, orchestra, 1846 (Vienna, 1856)
Overture for Orchestra, 1848, frag., RO-J
piano pieces, incl. Marşul Unirii [Union March] (Bucharest, c1860), Cadrilul Unirii (Iaşi, 1859), Banul Mărăcine (Bucharest, n.d.)


When, a few months before his death, Rachmaninov lamented that he no longer had the "strength and fire" to compose, friends reminded him of the Symphonic Dances, so charged with fire and strength. "Yes," he admitted. "I don't know how that happened. That was probably my last flicker."

snyprrr

Quote from: Florestan on August 03, 2017, 08:49:55 AM
Holy shit! I really didn't see that coming!  :D :D :D :D :D :D

lol, is that you rockin the jewfro?

johndoe21ro

Thanks for this thread. Nicolae Bretan and Ion Nonna Ostecu are very interesting! :)

vandermolen

#18
There is a Berger thread (started by me  ::)) but I thought I would post this here. I'm greatly enjoying being reacquainted with this darkly impressive score (Symphony No.4). There's a sombre integrity to this music which I find compelling and it held my attention throughout:

"Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm" (Churchill).

'The test of a work of art is, in the end, our affection for it, not our ability to explain why it is good' (Stanley Kubrick).