Enescu: Violin Sonatas

Featuring

Adelina Oprean
Justin Oprean
George Enescu

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Composer Biography

George Enescu, a Romanian composer, was known in America primarily as a conductor and in Europe as a violinist, which overshadowed his compositional talents during his lifetime.

Compositional Technique

Enescu's Third Violin Sonata includes extremely detailed performance instructions, such as specific bowing techniques and degrees of vibrato, to convey a spirit of improvisation.

Composer's Artistic Vision

Enescu had a deep-rooted preference for cyclical form in his compositions, often restating themes from earlier movements in the finale and superimposing them to reveal hidden affinities.

Composer Biography

Enescu was a perfectionist who would painstakingly revise his works for years, even after they had been performed and published, leading to many abandoned or unfinished pieces.

Compositional Technique

Enescu's Third Violin Sonata employs techniques from Romanian folk music, such as chromatic modes to blur major/minor distinctions, quarter-tones, and 'heterophony' (superimposing different versions of the same musical material).

Performer Biography

Adelina Oprean, the violinist on this recording, studied with notable musicians including Alberto Lysy, Robert Masters, Yehudi Menuhin, and Sandor Végh.

Composer's Artistic Vision

For his Third Violin Sonata, Enescu invented an entire folk language of his own, distilling the essence of Romanian folk music rather than directly quoting folk themes.