Enescu Symphony 3 etc. from Ondine

[Alan Howe]

Lintu's recent recording of Symphony No.2 was excellent, so this goes straight onto my wants list:
http://www.mdt.co.uk/enescu-symphony-no-3-op-and-choir-hannu-lintu-ondine.html

[sdtom]

I bit the bullet and ordered it too.
Tom

[eschiss1]

Apologies for slight deviation from topic again, but thanks for hosting the Enescu Festival recording of this work in the (up/down)loads section (I do need to get a "proper recording" too before too long; this symphony does fascinate me, and I don't mean because its published score, at least the one that the NY Public Library has, is too squintingly compressed to be properly readable- this for a work that should properly, like Szymanowski's 2nd symphony in his complete/collected edition (is), be published over, not under, size. )

[chill319]

From "Enescu: His Life and Times," by B. Kotlyarov. "In 1919 Enescu finished his third, C-Major Symphony, Op. 21. This work, which took him three years to complete, came as a result of sustained reflections; as a progressive artist he had been staggered by witnessing the sufferings of mankind during the First World War. He returned home from abroad when the war broke out, for he wanted to be with his people in those years of hardship. As a patriot he chose to share the fate of his fellow countrymen and their difficulties although he could easily have found a safe refuge in any part of the world....As usual he turned his sympathy to action. He gave concerts for the wounded, prisoners of war and students, performing as soloist and conducting the symphony orchestra he had formed in the town of Iasi. The proceeds from these concerts went to charities. He saw all the misery and distress the war had brought to men and women; this made him revolt against the forces of destruction, agains the absurdity of war, and as an artist he condemned it in his Third Symphony." In point of fact, Enescu's third symphony does much more than condemn man's inhumanity. It tries to demonstrate a way to transcend it.

[sdtom]

I'm looking forward to it.
Tom

[eschiss1]

Just re-listened to Gergiev's broadcast.
Looking forward to hearing how you find Lintu's recording!

[sdtom]

Still waiting for arrival
Tom

[Alan Howe]

It's not out in the UK until 4th November...

[eschiss1]

I'd thought for some reason that it was a vocalise in the finale- did Enescu write the text himself? Apologies for not tracking well...

[LateRomantic75]

Enescu's Third is a masterpiece IMO, progressing from a darkly troubled first movement to a gloriously affirmative conclusion. I have always thought of it as a hybrid of the poignancy of Schmidt's Symphony no. 4 and the voluptuousness of Scriabin's Third.

Is it too much to hope for that Lintu will record the four Study Symphonies and the completions of nos. 4 and 5? The Study Symphony no. 4 (recorded by Olympia) has nothing "academic" about it-a fine work that deserves a modern recording.

[eschiss1]

I thought Study Symphonies 2 and 3 were lost? ... Erm- not sure, though.
A commercial recording of symphonies 4, 5, Isis and such works would be a very good thing (I know of no such recording of Bentoiu's completions...)

[Mark Thomas]

Yes, I am sure that I've read that the middle two study symphonies are lost. Also, a well known recording label proprietor told me a few years ago that he had tried to track down Olympia's rumoured recordings of them, allegedly made but not released because the company subsequently went under, but that it turned out to be a fiction: Olympia had indeed tried to trace the two symphonies, but had drawn a blank.

[eschiss1]

Pity! I haven't yet heard study sym. no. 4 (I should just go listen to a YouTube video... ) but I really enjoyed no.1. Not just an accomplished student work but full of personality (not in the sense of sounding like Enescu-with-opus-number - early middle or late - just - not-anonymous; well-marked*, themes strong and memorable, I felt - if it reminded me a bit of Volkmann's 1st somehow, I didn't mind...)

*Agh, I take only two semesters of German- back in 1991...- and I feel like I'm thinking in it, or something. "markiert", obviously... / marcato /... (bien marqué??)

[Alan Howe]

My copy of Lintu's recording of the 3rd Symphony has now arrived. It's a must-buy for lovers of late-romantic symphonies and - thankfully, some would say - much less of a 'sprawl' than some pieces one might name. In fact, at just over 46 minutes, it's almost concise! At any rate, anyone who likes, say, Bloch, Strauss, Marx or Scriabin (with a shot of Ravel's Daphnis, maybe), is going to like this too. Great stuff - and marvellously played and recorded.

[sdtom]

I got my CD of the Ondine Enescu today. Will be listening to it today.
Tom