Enescu: Octet & Piano Quintet

 

Having come away from Enescu's two Piano Quartets pleasantly surprised, my hopes rose for these two chamber pieces. Instead, I received music akin to the Romanian composer's symphonies, with baffling chromaticisms and structural complexities.

The Piano Quintet in A minor moves in gentle wifts and wafts, preferring eternal subtleties over anything particularly grandiose. In this recording, the piano is made a subtle texture, giving more emphasis to the string quartet. I would say of the two works on this program, it is this Piano Quintet which gives me the most trouble, since Enescu goes out of his way to make it difficult to grasp onto any one idea, like water in a closed fist.

The second half contains more spiked whimsy, offering some contrast from the gentle lapping of the long first movement. Indeed, I even sense a whiff of the Romantic in the final quarter of the piece, when Enescu has to bring everything together in a rather unexpected dazzling display.

In a sense, both of these pieces are quite improvisational and spontaneous sounding. The Quintet in its subtle fluidity and chromatic undercurrent, whereas the Octet in C Major merrily brings that heterophonic element I have grown so accustomed to in Enescu's music. 

One can hear such things at the Octet's outset, which after a prolonged unison statement, Enescu sets some instruments in duples and the others nearby in triples. Rather than a cross-rhythmic experience, this listener hears an improvisational quality, more pronounced through the work's C-Major key. Indeed, every time Enescu inserts notes outside of the C-Major key in the opening, they seem Nationalistic colorings, rather than chromatic wanderings, where Enescu walks in and out of folk rhythms and melodies alongside unusual background textures.

The second movement continues the odd background textures, but give rise to Enescu's more melodic traits. The gruffer moments are a bit angular here; a bit of motivic usage on the part of the composer. The ending of the second movement is an absolute hoot! Folk modalisms color the slow third movement most winsomely, with Enescu even trying to insert a folk-dance texture as well. The fourth movement is surprisingly moody and nervy, with many tremolos amongst the strings. Eventually, the music breaks out into an almost mad waltz, with the conclusion finding a brilliant broad tune to set against Enescu's manic background textures.

Some of the textural elements mentioned above are compounded by this ensemble's use of the composer-approved string orchestra version of Enescu's Octet. This simply means there is an eight-person solo concertante group integrated amongst a larger 20-member string ensemble, rather than the original eight-person chamber octet by itself. Some will want the original version, so make sure you check what you are getting in Enescu's Octet.

Gidon Kremer leads the Kremerata Baltica, with handpicked players from around the Baltic countries, Kremer himself hailing from Latvia. There is not a recording that has come from this chamber group which does not impress, and this one is no different. Even if I am tepid regarding the music, such as Enescu's Piano Quintet here, I cannot fault the playing one bit.

 

Works
Octet in C Major, op. 7 (37.33)
Piano Quintet in A minor, op. 29 (35.23)

Performers
Kremerata Baltica
   Gidon Kremer, violin
   Džeraldas Bidva, violin
   Ūla Ulijona, viola
   Marta Sudraba, cello
   Andrius Žlabys, piano

Label: Nonesuch / Warner
Year: 2002
Total Timing: 72.56

All of my love goes to the performers in this recording, for Enescu's music in this style doesn't find me as readily. The Octet works worlds better than the Piano Quintet for this listener.

The Kremerata Baltica, on the other hand, are sharp players, whether in Classical or contemporary literature. So too here.

Find more Enescu recordings HERE!