Georges Enescu

[kyjo]

According to this excellent and comprehensive biography by Alain Cophignon (in French) http://www.fayard.fr/georges-enesco-9782213623214 study symphonies 2 is known by several fragments and it seems that symphony 3 exists but it is not analysed in detail in the book. A lot of work is still needed to make available the many unknown works by this extraordinary master of the 20th century.

Many thanks for this valuable information. And yes, Enescu was an extraordinary master of the 20th century, no doubt about it!

[amw]

I do indeed have downloaded performances of the Bentoiu completions of nos 4 & 5,

I for one would be quite curious to hear these. Are they downloads of the free variety? >.>

Been looking through Enescu's worklist - http://imslp.org/wiki/List_of_works_by_George_Enescu - only 33 opus numbers (though presumably some of the much longer list of unpublished works have made their way into print by now) and "mature Enescu" doesn't really start until Op. 17. Though the earlier stuff is also very fine, just less characteristic. Somewhat of a shame to start discovering a composer and find that the 4 or 5 albums you already have are roughly 50% of his output. It could be worse (Dutilleux, Webern). I suppose his "rediscovery" in a big way will have to wait until his as-yet unpublished manuscripts enter the public domain in Romania circa 2026, unless someone wants to volunteer to smuggle them to Canada or New Zealand (Florestan???)

Still, I'm really liking everything I've heard (except the Romanian Rhapsodies, lol)—the Olympia set of orchestral works, Chamber Symphony, Octet, string quartets & piano quartets. Keeping an eye out now for good recordings of the Quintet & Violin & Cello Sonatas. And those unfinished works look really interesting, from a musicological point of view. Good candidate for "underappreciated" composer of the century lol

[BrianSA]

Ask and it shall be given...

No 4

http://www.mediafire.com/?qkwybj47hodrajh

No 5

http://www.mediafire.com/?zmfurcouy0e796x

[kyjo]

They're also on YouTube if you experience MediaFire difficulties (I often do )!

[Karl Henning]

There is nothing for me to post about Enescu today, actually; so let's all talk about how great Stockhausen is, instead.  Can't get enough of that great, great, great man!

[kyjo]

There is nothing for me to post about Enescu today, actually; so let's all talk about how great Stockhausen is, instead.  Can't get enough of that great, great, great man!

I do hope you're joking, Karl!

[kyjo]

I do hope you're joking, Karl!

Karl, I won't be able to sleep tonight unless you tell me what you said ain't true!!!!! You're driving me insane!

[amw]

Ask and it shall be given...

No 4

http://www.mediafire.com/?qkwybj47hodrajh

No 5

http://www.mediafire.com/?zmfurcouy0e796x

Thanks! The downloads appear to have worked, presuming that my internet didn't fall into its occasional habit of deciding a file is smaller than it actually is and stopping the download halfway through, so I'll definitely take a listen.

There is nothing for me to post about Enescu today, actually; so let's all talk about how great Stockhausen is, instead.  Can't get enough of that great, great, great man!

When he was much younger, Karl tried to change his name to Karlheinz Stockhausen Henning out of admiration for the composer, but was forced to revert it due to lawsuit threats from the Stockhausen-Verlag. 100% absolutely true fact.

[Mirror Image]

Enescu fans rejoice! Lintu's cycle continues...

[asin]B00FBCZGE2[/asin]

[Mirror Image]

Thought I would revive this thread since it's been two years since any activity. I bought many newer Enescu releases (the two CPO recordings with the completions of Symphonies 4 & 5, the complete violin/piano music and complete cello/piano music on Hanssler, and Lintu's Ondine series). Really looking forward to hearing these recordings. I have yet to listen to Lawrence Foster's traversal of Enescu on EMI or Erato. I need to get to these recordings soon.

Any news from anyone here? Anyone enjoying Enescu's music these days? I know ritter is quite a fan of his music and I owe much of his enthusiasm for this composer to my current rediscovery.

[pjme]

I was recently in Bucharest and was able to attend one concert of the Enescu Festival:  Royal Liverpool PhO /Petrenko / Trpceski: Rachmaninov 3rd concerto and Enescu's Third symphony. Two impressive works in excellent performances!

Here is a short clip from that very concert on september 18th:

https://youtu.be/Ej3dGUusugM

And I did meet Florestan/Andrei! great guy.. who's busy being a father!

P.

[Scion7]

Wow, that sounds like a very memorable experience!
My gf/sig other is Hungarian - we want to make a trip to Transylvania at some point.
Of course, that's a lot of $imolians to put down all at once.   

[vandermolen]

I read a review which compared Enescu's Fourth Symphony to that of Vaughan Williams, which greatly interested me. On first hearing it sounds nothing like Vaughan Williams and I was disappointed. However, I loved the darkly atmospheric and imaginative 'Autumn Clouds over the Forest' which is rather Baxian and worth having the CD for:
[asin]B010U6BP6Q[/asin]

[mjwal]

I too love some of what I have heard - the 3rd orchestral Suite "La villageoise" (Arte Nova); Oedipe (EMI); the amazing Vox Maris (an old performance by Rozdhestvensky I downloaded from somewhere); the two cello sonatas (Arte Nova) and two piano quartets (Chandos - the second of each pair much later than the first - a revealing contrast); Impressions d'enfance (Kremer Apex). The symphonies have for some reason - inferior performances on record? - not impressed me so much. My internal impression of 20th century music has been significantly modified - and enriched - by Enescu. I definitely need to hear more.

[ritter]

I too love some of what I have heard - the 3rd orchestral Suite "La villageoise" (Arte Nova); Oedipe (EMI); the amazing Vox Maris (an old performance by Rozdhestvensky I downloaded from somewhere); the two cello sonatas (Arte Nova) and two piano quartets (Chandos - the second of each pair much later than the first - a revealing contrast); Impressions d'enfance (Kremer Apex). The symphonies have for some reason - inferior performances on record? - not impressed me so much. My internal impression of 20th century music has been significantly modified - and enriched - by Enescu. I definitely need to hear more.

That's a fine list of compositions you've posted, mjwal. Great to see you enjoy Enescu's music.

I would highlyrecoomend the Piano sonatas (No 3 particularly, No 2 not having ever been committed to paper by the composer--"it's all in my head" he's supposed to have said) and, as far as chamber music goes, the Piano quintet op. 29 is magnificent.

Cheers,

[Spineur]

   Don't miss the superb EMI recording of Oedipe, a retelling of the Oedipus myth which is vastly different from the more familiar Stravinsky, and possibly the greatest opera you've never heard.
  It's a strange and haunting work,and absolutely mesmerizing.
  It's also his only opera, and one he worked on for many years.
  The cast includes Jose Van Dam as Oedipus, with Lawrence Foster,who has done so much to champion this composer's music.
  Despite his name,Foster is an American conductor of Romanian parentage.

[asin]B000005GJC[/asin]
I found this recording in my mailbox coming back from holidays and took a couple evening to listen to it.  It is indeed an extremely powerful and haunting opera.  I had forgotten how terrible a story Oedipe was.  And you get trap into an inescapable machinary to which there is no way out.  Oedipe fate, who never gets a chance to make a choice.  This preceeds Epicure who introduced the notion of "libre arbitre" (free choice) in European philosophy.

Anyway Enescu treats this tragedy with a lot of accuracy both through the text and his music.  The performance is superb as is the french diction which is cristal clear from.the begining to the end.  I never had to look at the libretto.

[listener]

Symphony no. 1 is scheduled by the Vancouver (BC) S.O. October 1,2,3 this year.  Cristian Marcelaru is guest conducting.
http://www.vancouversymphony.ca/concert/16MUS01/

[pjme]

Found the cd for 1 euro at an Easter car boot sale. First listen to symphony nr 2. Almost 55 minutes. Made me think of "hypertrophied chamber music". The large, Straussian-orchestra very often gets shattered into smaller entities.
A difficult work that will take some time to discover & digest...

P.


 

[snyprrr]

I need to check some more out... just the Piano Qts.,... I've heard some great stuff...

[Mirror Image]

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.