Georges Enescu

Started by david johnson, February 15, 2008, 03:16:05 PM

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snyprrr

Quote from: Mirror Image on April 18, 2017, 08:41:05 AM
Enescu is a composer that really hasn't spoken to me yet, but I'm still trying. The only work I like right now is his Orchestral Suite No. 3, "Villageoise" and Rozhdestvensky recorded the best performance I've heard of this particular work.

Don't like Violin Sonata 3? How can't one? But I agree otherwise, a lot of Enescu seemed pretty Individualistic to me, and his melodies are mostly just not up my alley. But, when he becomes "pure music time", then he can be mysterious... I think it's the Piano Quartet 2 I'm thinking about, maybe the Quintet...

Boy, I tell ya, CPO and Chandos have YOUR number, buddy ;)... Ondine... tsk tsk :laugh:

Mirror Image

Quote from: snyprrr on April 18, 2017, 02:37:52 PM
Don't like Violin Sonata 3? How can't one? But I agree otherwise, a lot of Enescu seemed pretty Individualistic to me, and his melodies are mostly just not up my alley. But, when he becomes "pure music time", then he can be mysterious... I think it's the Piano Quartet 2 I'm thinking about, maybe the Quintet...

Boy, I tell ya, CPO and Chandos have YOUR number, buddy ;)... Ondine... tsk tsk :laugh:

I'll need to go back and listen to the Violin Sonata No. 3. Anyway, right now, Enescu isn't a priority, but I'm sure I'll swing back around to him at some point in the future.

Turner

#102
My Enescu collection is a mixture of LPs - mainly Romanian ones - and CDs. Needless to say I don´t know all the music yet. There´s also a digital copy of "Oedipe" (including that strange Sphinx-scene) and the Piano Quintet, plus some scattered further recordings too.
I don´t have all the piano music or the earliest student symphonies, but that´s OK. The piano quartets probably also have better recordings elsewhere.


Turner

#103
One of the most interesting items as regards historical recordings is an Everest LP with Lipatti and Enescu himself playing Violin Sonatas 2+3 - unusually moody and temperamental. There´s also a Constantin Silvestri recording of the Chamber Symphony.

SymphonicAddict

The String octet is one of his best creations. Passionate music of high caliber.

kyjo

Quote from: SymphonicAddict on October 01, 2017, 01:25:16 PM
The String octet is one of his best creations. Passionate music of high caliber.

+1 A truly remarkable work.
"Music is enough for a lifetime, but a lifetime is not enough for music" - Sergei Rachmaninoff

SymphonicAddict

Quote from: kyjo on October 01, 2017, 01:37:22 PM
+1 A truly remarkable work.

I fell in love with it two months ago. How I had not heard it before!

kyjo

Quote from: SymphonicAddict on October 01, 2017, 02:29:16 PM
I fell in love with it two months ago. How I had not heard it before!

Interesting - I just heard it for the first time about two months ago as well ;D After listening I thought "what have I been missing all my life?"
"Music is enough for a lifetime, but a lifetime is not enough for music" - Sergei Rachmaninoff

vandermolen

Quote from: kyjo on October 01, 2017, 02:41:50 PM
Interesting - I just heard it for the first time about two months ago as well ;D After listening I thought "what have I been missing all my life?"
Must investigate this one!
"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).

Rhymenoceros

I came across his Suite No. 2 in D, Op. 10 the other day.  I love the Bourree!  Keep playing it on repeat.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=17m25s&v=N76nJzjUh8s&feature=youtu.be&app=desktop

Florestan

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

Parsifal

#111
Listened to the first symphony for the first time in a number of years. Not a long work but surprisingly hard to keep my bearings in the music. Themes tend to be introduced within an intricate texture and gradually evolve, never to be restated literally. I can't imagine it would be easy to encounter this music for the first time at a concert and come away with a clear conception.

It strikes me Enescu had an eclectic set of influences, but the overall impression I get is French, such as Dukas or Chaussons, with some Brahms mixed in. The most impesssive thing about it was s the mastery of orchestration and the sophisticated harmonic progressions created.

kyjo

Yeah, I get the impression that much of Enescu's music is a bit too complex and eclectic for its own good. But, ironically, I find his ever-popular Romanian Rhapsody no. 1 to be a bit too simplistic! That said, he's still an interesting composer and I intend to explore his output further.
"Music is enough for a lifetime, but a lifetime is not enough for music" - Sergei Rachmaninoff

Florestan

Quote from: kyjo on November 26, 2017, 04:00:30 PM
I find his ever-popular Romanian Rhapsody no. 1 to be a bit too simplistic!

I don't think he meant it to be particularly complex. Take some catchy tunes (which are almost literal folkloric quotations), orchestrate them sumptuously and assemble them in a romp. The perfect concert opener, or encore.  :)
Every kind of music is good, except the boring kind. — Rossini

Parsifal

Strange thing is, I listened to this piece (the First Symphony) more than ten years ago and remember being positively impressed. Now I can't imagine why. Now, having listened to the first movement five times (I think) I find nothing thematically memorable besides the opening statement by brass, which recurs in the central section and at the end. Other than that it seems like transitional movement with nothing to transition to. A sequence of bridges to nowhere. The use of orchestra is impressive, but in the service of what?

Wondering if I should listen to the second symphony or cut my losses.

kishnevi

Quote from: Scarpia on November 27, 2017, 07:22:14 AM
Strange thing is, I listened to this piece (the First Symphony) more than ten years ago and remember being positively impressed. Now I can't imagine why. Now, having listened to the first movement five times (I think) I find nothing thematically memorable besides the opening statement by brass, which recurs in the central section and at the end. Other than that it seems like transitional movement with nothing to transition to. A sequence of bridges to nowhere. The use of orchestra is impressive, but in the service of what?

Wondering if I should listen to the second symphony or cut my losses.

I gave the Chandos set a re-listen last week.  I liked all three better the second time around, but the First seemed the weakest.

Parsifal

Quote from: Jeffrey Smith on November 27, 2017, 07:44:36 AM
I gave the Chandos set a re-listen last week.  I liked all three better the second time around, but the First seemed the weakest.

I think I also listened to all three years ago. Maybe my positive memories come from the second and third. Will give them a try, at least.

Florestan

All I remember from the 1st is finding the last movement too long. Just when you think it's over, another idea pops up, and this happens several times. With Haydn it works, though.  :)
Every kind of music is good, except the boring kind. — Rossini

Parsifal

Quote from: Florestan on November 27, 2017, 07:53:04 AM
All I remember from the 1st is finding the last movement too long. Just when you think it's over, another idea pops up, and this happens several times. With Haydn it works, though.  :)

The finale of the first has the advantage of sounding like Brahms 3rd at the opening. That's all I remember of it, having listened yesterday. :)

ritter

#119
Quote from: Florestan on November 27, 2017, 07:53:04 AM
All I remember from the 1st is finding the last movement too long. Just when you think it's over, another idea pops up, and this happens several times. With Haydn it works, though.  :)
I am a great fan of Enescu (particularly his later works), but....he does have a tendency to extend the final movements of his works unnecessarily (at least, I see it so   :-[). I get this impression in, for instance, the Third Piano Sonata op. 24 - 3, and the Piano Quintet op. 29 (two works I admire very much). In both works, when you've thought the closing movements have come to an end, and that the thematic material has been exhausted, the music restarts, and we get into a sort of long-winded coda that seems to last forever and really does not add anything new. The end effect is that the formal balance of these works is (slightly) distorted.

You feel like screaming "Stop! You've nothing more to say here"!" at notre cher Georges.  ::)