Record of the Month

"The greatest musical phenomenon since Mozart" is how his concert partner Pablo 
Casals famously described Enescu. Those who knew him certainly speak with awe 
about his prodigious capabilities, and record companies such as Marco Polo, 
Olympia and EMI are paying his music some serious attention. The two works on 
this disc give us a chance to hear two sides of the coin - a fairly oft-recorded 
early masterpiece which signalled a precocious talent, and a much later, far 
more enigmatic piece that was coolly received and appeared to be a stylistic 
mish-mash, but which deserves re-appraisal.

The Octet in C, written when the composer was 19, is an amazingly accomplished 
piece for a teenager (certainly comparable to Mendelssohn's Octet), and is well 
represented in the current catalogue. However, this being Gidon Kremer and his 
punningly titled ensemble, something had to be different. It appears that a 
colleague, Leonid Desyatnikov, suggested the group expand the Octet's original 
scoring to create a fuller, more 'orchestral' texture, and this is the version 
recorded here. It is something akin to what Schoenberg did with Verklarte Nacht, 
and Kremer's group make a strong case for their approach. The extremely 
muscular, contrapuntal lines and effortless flow of melody are already very 
effective in original octet form, in fact sounding sonorous and very rich in the 
right performance, so I suppose what Kremer is doing is giving us more of the 
same. The result is undeniably effective. The work's broad opening theme, a 
glorious inspiration over throbbing unisons in the bass, emerges as even more 
lush and romantic here, and at times sounds curiously like Tippett. The 
development of the main theme, which is the backbone of the whole piece in one 
way or another, is extremely inventive, and as the counterpoint thickens and the 
theme's treatment becomes ever more angular and complex, one cannot help 
thinking of Schoenberg's almost contemporary work. There is passion, excitement, 
luminosity and a real individuality in every movement, and all conceived on an 
epic scale. Kremer and his players respond throughout with playing of great 
commitment, polish and flair.

The Piano Quintet, composed 40 years later, is something of a curiosity. The 
booklet claims 'first recording', and I certainly cannot trace a rival in the 
catalogue. It is referred to as "a distant relative of both late Scriabin and 
mature Ravel", and there is a certain heady, almost 'perfumed' quality that does 
seem to hark back to a past generation of late Romantics. Themes are treated in 
a languorous, improvisatory way that must have seemed terribly old-fashioned at 
the time, but one can trace a rhapsodic style of writing that comes quite 
clearly from the same pen as the Octet. Atonality hovers on the fringes, but 
never takes hold, and the restlessness of much of the writing seems to mirror a 
hidden sorrow (Enescu's response to the war?) as well as a more positive 
emotional passion (particularly the finale) that is ultimately uplifting. Here 
again, Kremer leads a small group whose playing uncovers every complex strand 
with unerring precision and fervour, and they are helped enormously by the 
big-boned yet sensitive contribution of the Lithuanian-born pianist Andrius 
Zlabys. This mysteriously multi-dimensional piece is well worth getting to know.

Recording quality is demonstration worthy. There is a rather convoluted booklet 
note entitled The Forgotten Legacy of George Enescu by Julia Bederova that 
almost disappears up its own prose, but does contain useful snippets for the 
more curious reader to follow up. A stimulating release, and highly recommended. 

  --Tony Haywood