Enescu: Strigoii

[mikehopf]

Tonight on Deutschlandfunk Radio:

George Enescu
,Strigoii' (Die Geister)
Kammeroper auf einen Text von Mihai Eminescu, nach dem Manuskript rekonstruiert von Cornel Țãranu und orchestriert von Sabin Pautza

Rodica Vica, Sopran
Tiberius Simu, Tenor
Bogdan Baciu, Bariton
Alin Anca, Bass
Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin
Leitung: Gabriel Bebeselea

Aufnahme vom 26.9.2019 aus dem Konzerthaus Berlin

[Alan Howe]

Rather on the periphery of our remit, I feel...

[mikehopf]

Eh? Written in 1916!

[Alan Howe]

Yes, I'm aware of that. But there's plenty of music written before our notional end-date that we don't discuss here.

Here is a sample of Strigoii:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8AO09QY87WM

And an excerpt from MusicWeb's review:
"Free declamation" or "Sprechgesang" is sometimes employed by the tenor and bass, and the music is highly chromatic in approach, giving it a nebulous and free-floating character and making it hard for the amateur ear to pin down its shape.
http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2018/Nov/Enescu_Strigoii_C5346.htm

In other words, it's very different from the Enescu of his 1st Symphony (1905):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WN0tUQ9QsC0
..or from his 3rd Symphony, which is roughly contemporary with Strigoii:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_7kohi6by-I