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Home (/) » Reviews (/reviews) » Enescu String Quartets Nos. 1 & 2

Enescu String Quartets Nos. 1 & 2 Follow us

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Author: Guest
There’s something peculiarly appealing about delving (//twitter.com/gramophonemag)
among the pages of an expansive, imaginatively written
string quartet. Schoenberg, Reger and Hindemith all
(https://plus.google.com/11588730435702211
composed them; even Dvorak let his ideas ramble for an
hour-long Third Quartet, but Enescu’s 1920 First Quartet
crams so much into 45-odd minutes that even two or Enescu String Quartets (http://www.youtube.com/user/GramophoneMag
three hearings barely scratch its surface. The massive, Nos. 1 & 2 sub_confirmation=1)
harmonically complex first movement is cast in sonata
String Quartet No. 1
form, though the extended stream of consciousness that
String Quartet No. 2
dominates the development section embraces all manner
of colours and nuances. It’s a veritable forest of
invention, fairly Brahmsian in texture, organic in its Buy from Amazon
(http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/field
thinking (themes thread easily from one to another) and -
frequently dramatic. keywords=Enescu+String+Quartet
The second movement incorporates sundry s+Nos+1++2)

embellishments and effects (including the use of sul

ponticello), and the finale features variations on a march-like theme.
It will make a wonderful listen for anyone who values quality ideas
above economical structuring. And yet I sympathise with the late
Lionel Salter who, when reviewing the Voces Quartet version on (https://adserver.adtech.de/?
adlink/1211.1/5009228/0/170/AdId=1881907
Olympia, was somewhat dazed by what he saw as a ‘profusion of
0;BnId=7;guid=VA7d25f8ec-69ab-11e8-9c35-
material [that] makes following the course of the musical thought 021fac77ac55;itime=902428939;key=Chamber
something of a challenge’. In my view, it’s a challenge worth facing. %2BNaxos%2BGeorge%2520Enescu%2BString%25
20Quartet%2520No%2E%25201%2BString%2520
Although the two quartets share the single opus number (22), they’re
Quartet%2520No%2E%25202;gdpr=1;)
years apart chronologically, aeons if you consider their contrasting

https://www.gramophone.co.uk/review/enescu-string-quartets-nos-1-2 1/4
15/12/2018 Enescu String Quartets Nos. 1 & 2 | gramophone.co.uk
styles. The Second Quartet was Enescu’s penultimate work and Editor's Choice
breathes the heady aroma of Romanian folk music, especially in the
slow movement and finale, which recall the world of the far better-
known Third Violin Sonata. Shorter than the First Quartet by almost
half, the Second feels tighter and more agile. Again, Enescu employs
sul ponticello; harmonics too, while certain parts of the work (the
second movement in particular) seem to have taken on board
something of the colour scheme that Bartok employed for his Fifth
Quartet. At other times Enescu seems closer to Schoenberg than to
Bartok, which surprised me.
The Ad Libitum Quartet do a fabulous job. They attend to Enescu’s
endless technical demands with a devotion that translates to (https://www.gramophone.co.uk/feature/the-
apparent effortlessness. That in itself is a real achievement, and their best-new-classical-albums-december-2018)

generally soft-spoken, conversational mode of playing is in marked

contrast to the tougher-grained Voces Quartet on Olympia, another
good group, marginally more intense than Ad Libitum, more angular Sign up
in their phrasing but hardly flattered by a hard analogue recording.
for our
CPO’s Quatuor Athenaeum Enesco are also accomplished, swifter
newsletter
The latest news,
than the Ad Libitum in the Second Quartet and more resonantly features, blogs and
recorded. I like their freewheeling way with the First Quartet’s third reviews delivered
movement but, viewed overall, their command of nuance is less weekly to your inbox!

comprehensive than Ad Libitum’s, and their tempo transitions less

(https://www.gramophone.co.uk/feature/sign-
effective. The CPO disc is issued at full price whereas Olympia’s is at up-to-the-free-gramophone-newsletter)
a reasonable mid-price point. Still, Naxos’s superior production is a
secure top recommendation and unbeatable value at super-budget
price. You simply have to try it The all-time
greats
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15/12/2018 Enescu String Quartets Nos. 1 & 2 | gramophone.co.uk

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15/12/2018 Enescu String Quartets Nos. 1 & 2 | gramophone.co.uk

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