ENESCU Complete Works for Cello and Piano
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: George Enescu
Genre:
Chamber
Label: Haenssler
Magazine Review Date: 06/2014
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 88
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: CD98 021
Tracks:
Composition | Artist Credit |
---|---|
Sonata Movement |
George Enescu, Composer
George Enescu, Composer Per Rundberg, Piano Valentin Radutiu, Cello |
(2) Sonatas for Cello and Piano |
George Enescu, Composer
George Enescu, Composer Per Rundberg, Piano Valentin Radutiu, Cello |
Nocturne & Saltarello |
George Enescu, Composer
George Enescu, Composer Per Rundberg, Piano Valentin Radutiu, Cello |
Author: Rob Cowan
Turn to the opening of the Second Sonata (1935), completed after a gap of almost 40 years, and we revisit the world of the celebrated Third Violin Sonata (1926), the opening minutes ruminative in the manner of folk music, the development thereafter growing more exotic by the minute, related in spirit if not in overall design to Bartók. How different too the Second Sonata’s agitated scherzo – angry, halting music spiced with double-stops, anxious pizzicatos and a challenging piano part. Next comes what is perhaps the most striking and certainly the most inspired music on the disc, the unaccompanied opening of Op 26 No 2’s slow movement, music that vies with Kodály’s Op 8 Solo Cello Sonata for eloquent purity, the latter half being particularly beautiful. Echoes of folk music dominate much of the finale, again recalling the world of the Third Violin Sonata. The second disc closes, as the first began, with youthful essays reflecting the mid-Romantics who Enescu loved (and played) so well, especially Brahms and Schumann, a Nocturne and Saltarello, very well performed.
As to comparisons, cellist Laura Buruiana and pianist Martin Tchiba (Naxos) level nearest to Radutiu and Rundberg, similar in approach, though I find Radutiu the subtler of the two cellists. If the sonatas are your prime requirements, Naxos fit both on a single CD. Granted that Hänssler, which uses two CDs (totalling only 88 minutes), adds the early fill-ups which, although interesting to hear once, maybe twice, could hardly be considered crucial additions to your collection, unless you’re an Enescu completist.
Explore the world’s largest classical music catalogue on Apple Music Classical.
Included with an Apple Music subscription. Download now.
Gramophone Digital Club
- Digital Edition
- Digital Archive
- Reviews Database
- Events & Offers
From £9.20 / month
SubscribeGramophone Club
- Print Edition
- Digital Edition
- Digital Archive
- Reviews Database
- Events & Offers
From £11.45 / month
Subscribe
If you are a library, university or other organisation that would be interested in an institutional subscription to Gramophone please click here for further information.