Enescu: Violin Concerto & Fantaisie for Piano & Orchestra

Featuring

Carolin Widmann
Peter Ruzicka
Luiza Borac
NDR Radiophilharmonie
George Enescu

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Compositional Technique

Enescu's Violin Concerto, though unfinished, is notable for its 600-bar length and an extended 90-bar orchestral introduction, similar to Beethoven's and Brahms's concertos.

Performer Biography

Luiza Borac, the pianist on this album, earned a doctorate with a dissertation on George Enescu's piano music, graduating summa cum laude from the National University of Music in Bucharest.

Composer Biography

George Enescu, a Romanian child prodigy, studied in Vienna from 1888, living near Johannes Brahms and hearing him play the piano.

Composer Biography

Enescu's teacher, Robert Fuchs, also taught Gustav Mahler, Hugo Wolf, Jean Sibelius, Franz Schmidt, Alexander Zemlinsky, and Franz Schreker.

Recording & Production

The conductor of these premiere recordings, Peter Ruzicka, was assisted by Romanian musicologists Pascal Bentoiu and Cornel Țăranu in acquiring and completing the dispersed musical materials.

Composer's Artistic Vision

Enescu believed the essence of music lay in the primacy of melody, stating, "Any piece... only deserves to be called a musical composition if it has a line, a melody or, better yet, superposed melodies."