George ENESCU (1881 - 1955)
Complete Works for Violin and Piano - Volume 2
Violin Sonata No. 1 in D major, Op. 2 [25:35]
Ballade, Op. 4a
[4:28]
Tarantella [4:57]
Aubade in C major [4:17]
Hora Unirei
[1:38]
Andante malinconico [2:29]
Impressions d'enfance Op. 28
[23:37]
Axel Strauss (violin)
Ilya Poletaev (piano)
rec. Caroline H. Hume concert hall, San Francisco, 2-5 January 2012
NAXOS 8.572692 [67:01]
Enescu has been rather neglected over the years. His
Roumanian
Rhapsody No.1 has established its place in the orchestral repertoire
but little else is regularly heard. Looking back it has to be acknowledged
that as a child prodigy he graduated from the Vienna Academy at the tender
age of 13. As a violinist he became one of the world's leading soloists. As
a composer he was producing some highly mature works in his teenage years.
Maybe his time has now arrived and he deserves wider recognition. This CD
will help his cause.
Enescu composed his Violin Sonata No.1 when he was 16 years old. It draws
from the tradition of Brahms and Beethoven and cannot by any stretch of the
imagination be called original. It is, however, still a remarkable piece of
work for a teenager. The opening
Allegro vivo is full of fire and
from the opening bars it is immediately arresting. Enescu then demonstrates
his melodic gifts in a flowing second subject. The superb slow movement and
final
Allegro contain many fugal passages and these are mastered
with a high level of technical expertise by the young composer. The writing
for violin and piano shows clearly that Enescu was accomplished on both
instruments.
The songful
Ballade and
Tarantella were written when the
composer was 14 years old. There's nothing especially memorable to be heard
here but this is more evidence of the composer's amazing abilities in his
teenage years. The
Aubade is a 1903 version of a piece written
originally for a string trio four years earlier. It is a smiling, gentle
serenade with a tune that stays in the memory. The folk-inspired
Hora
Unirii and the haunting
Andantino malinconico lead the
listener into the final work, the fascinating
Impressions d'enfance
from 1940. This is mature Enescu and is the one work in the recital that is
truly original. It comprises ten movements spanning over 23 minutes and I
found the whole thing to be simply extraordinary. The suite is a diary of
events that tells the story of a day in the life of a child. There is
nothing childlike in this expertly written music. We hear a folk fiddler, a
garden stream, a caged bird and a cuckoo clock, the howling of the wind in
the chimney and a storm, including thunder and lightning. There are some
incredible virtuoso effects in Enescu's violin writing as well as a high
level of sophistication and communication in every one of the miniatures. Is
this a masterpiece? Well, buy the CD and come to your own conclusions. It's
certainly a very fine work and nothing like anything I've heard before.
Axel Strauss and Ilya Poletaev play with complete authority and they are
clearly at home in Enescu's music having also recorded volume 1 (8.572691)
in this Naxos series. Their performance of
Impressions d'enfance is
especially fabulous. The recorded sound is decent enough but the piano is
too far forward and the violin tone is bright and can be harsh in the high
register. It's good but could have been so much better. No matter, this
still makes for admirable listening.
John Whitmore
