George Enescu - String Octet, Op. 7
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 17 ก.ค. 2024
- - Composer: George Enescu (19 August 1881 -- 4 May 1955)
- Performers: Janine Jansen (violin), Boris Brovtsyn (violin), Julia-Maria Kretz (violin), Alexander Sitkovetsky (violin), Amihai Grosz (viola), Julian Rachlin (viola), Maarten Jansen (cello), Jens Peter Maintz (cello)
- Year of recording: 2009 (Live in Utrecht, The Netherlands)
String Octet in C major, Op. 7, written in 1900.
00:00 - I. Très modéré
12:24 - II. Très fougueux
20:31 - III. Lentement
29:37 - IV. Mouvement de Valse bien rythmée
Enescu acknowledged that his String Octet, written when he was only nineteen years old (!), was a transitional work, coming as it did between his highly accomplished juvenilia (he had written four worthy "Study" Symphonies by the age of sixteen) and the first appearance of his mature voice. The experience of his early large-scale scores bears impressive fruit in the Octet, a work of nearly three-quarters of an hour in length, and one which exploits Enescu's mastery of counterpoint to the fullest.
Enescu later noted the difficulty he had in marshalling his musical forces for this work. That's not surprising given the task he set for himself of encompassing within a four-movement structure the elements of a single, sonata-form movement, much in the manner of Schubert's "Wanderer" Fantasy. The opening movement presents no fewer than six themes which will form the basis of the entire work. In addition, there are other features that will recur, including the relentless, pulsing pedal point heard right at the outset, over which the first theme, with its characteristic descending major sixth, is sung unison by massed strings. This rhythmic pulse becomes the engine that drives the contrapuntal web spun by Enescu's eight players, each of which is treated as a full-fledged soloist. The texture is rich, often dense (an episode in 3/4 time in the first movement is accompanied by such an intricate weft of counterpoint that there is the suggestion of delicate tone clusters), and hyper-Romantic in feeling.
Most remakable is how the Octet partakes of some very up-to-the-minute developments in music. Enescu was in Vienna between 1888 and 1893, studying theory under Robert Fuchs, who also taught Mahler, Wolf, Schreker and Zemlinsky, and it's not inconceivable that the younger Enescu was well-attuned to the radical changes in music wrought by his Viennese colleagues.
- Already in the first movement, the six themes are not so much developed (they retain a certain resistant quality throughout the Octet) as they are fragmented and recombined, producing, as it were, a sort of infinitely variable "meta-theme," giving the work thematic unity (and helping the listener keep his bearings in the counterpoint!) while keeping it from straying into monotony. This sophisticated material, with its suggestions both of Roumanian and Gypsy music and of the cosmopolitan boulevards of Europe, represents Enescu's biggest advance to date as a composer.
- The relatively brief scherzo is packed with aggressive unison activity, alternating with heavily chromatic, often dissonant passages.
- Its busy, forward-looking music is succeeded by the serene slow movement, a long, rhapsodic melody accompanied by simple, repeated chords (which are related to the pulsing pedal notes of the first movement). An agitated bridge passage, with fragments of the themes sounding over tremolando strings, leads to...
- the finale, in which the rhythmic impulse that has driven the work now breaks forth as a delirious waltz ("Mouvement de Valse bien rythmée"). The themes, in increasingly intricate ways, recombine as the movement is carried forward. The climax is an impressive peroration of the "meta-theme" over the driving pedal point, anticipating by a full fifteen years a similar dramatic moment at the climax of Zemlinsky's second string quartet.
The String Octet is dedicated "à André Gedalge". - เพลง
How can something be so classical, so romantic, yet so contemporary?!?! IMPOSSIBLE!!!!
... this composition is absolutely brilliant ... to say that Enescu was a genius would be the understatement of the century ...
Enescu, to me, was the eighth wonder of the world - a true master of all trades, but most of all an unparalleled composer. Two great recordings of his op.6 sonata, written at 17, come to mind: He played the violin part with Dinu Lipatti and the piano part with Yvonne Astruc.
Nice reminescence of Schubert's string quintet at the very end :)
In any way or another, a man must be a genius to be able to construct such a marvel and at such age. In no moment can you feel the "strings" (no pun intended) slipping from his fingers, yet it's a constant push of the limits of perception towards chaotic. There is a persistent underlying impetus that makes this piece a three-quarters-of-hour rollercoaster race towards it's end while savagely enjoying the slopes and strokes of poetry and romanticism.
The more I listen to Enescu's Octet, the more amazed I am with its virtuosity. For me, this is a very special piece of music, a composition that is on another level, created by a genius.
You should listen to the Mendelssohn String octet then, he wrote it when he was 16.
where has this been all my life?!
Not too many such octets around. This is a worthy addition to that small body of work.
Listening to this a second time on 17 September 2017
Yes it is! Happy that you like it Harry :)
I have listen this extraordinary octet in the Conservatory of Cluj in 2018. Unforgettable moment !
Movement two slaps so hard. This rocks
I am actually bowled over by how good this is. For years Mendelssohn and Raff have been my only (string) octet fixes; fantastic to have something new to add to this niche collection!
D'you know the two short ones by Shostakovich? Also fantastic.
Bruch has a rather nice one too
@@klop4228 Thanks for the recommendations; I think I've heard the Bruch (and didn't love it) but the Shostakovich sounds intriguing. I'll check them out asap!
@@vaclavmiller8032 check out the one by gliere
Very cool to put the advancing score up! Thank you, great performance of a great work and a helpful video reference too. :-)
+Films by Diek Thank you! I agree, this is such a great work, glad to see you like it too!
Master of the masters.❤
10:16 THIS MOMENT IS TOO PERFECT
This is beautiful! I've long been a fan of Enescu's Romanian Rhapsodies, but hadn't heard much of his other work. Thanks for sharing (and for including the score - always a bonus)!
This is the best octet
George Enescu:C-dúr Oktett Op.7
1.Molto moderato 00:10
2.Molto infuocato 12:24
3.Lentamente 20:31
4. Movimento valse dal ritmo incalzante 29:37
Janine Jansen-hegedű
Boris Brovtsyn-hegedű
Julia-Maria Kretz-hegedű
Alexander Sitkovetsky-hegedű
Amihai Grosz-brácsa
Julian Rachlin-brácsa
Maarten Jansen-gordonka
Jens Peter Maintz-gordonka
the last phrase says very clear that he loves what is strange! and does this perfectly.
Just brilliant!!
Yes I agree!!
the second moviment is just a perfection of chamber music, he must had an immense engagement, boldness , inspiration and abundance composing this. I guess he started this as a quartet then complicated later
oh, man, he's hammering so fiercely against the wall of tonality. soone should have lent him a sledge hammer.
janine at her very best (as always :D) thx 4 sharing, such an inspiring work!!
+chris ingres Thank you! Yes it's an unashamedly exciting piece, but so very well crafted too! I'm glad you like it, and yes Janine is wonderful in this :)
yes, i like it indeed. i thought about that piece often te recent days. mahler 9, "verklärte nacht", the octet by enescu: all 3 composers were standing at the brink, glancing down at the abyss beneath them. their music is very close to the point of total collapse. mahler died. schönberg jumped - and became one of the world's most underestimated composers for a long term, enescu stayed (?).
chris ingres
Enescu lived a life of poverty, he had to give music lessons etc. while all he really wanted in life was to compose music. I think Enescu is nowadays one of the great underestimated composers, Schönberg and Mahler are both well-established by now (deservedly).
maybe. i will listen to some more music by enescu. i only know the romanian rhapsody. his life: i 'm not familiar with his biography - except the fact he was a fantastic violinist. - it is and always was very difficult for many artists to earn their living. dubuffet did some forgeries when he was young, that's the clever way for painters, isn't it?.-- btw: i think we are standing at the brink again. that's what's interests me most. many people just don't see, they are blind-folded - or even worse: they are not blind-folded but they just don't w a n t to see anything. but did the elite and the people in 1910+ foresee the near collapse of the system? they wouldn't have gone in that cruel war singing and laughing. some famous artists among the soldiers (aren't the artists often called the seismographs of society??). the 20th century is so incredibly cruel, it was cruel to many artists too, mankind only survived by accident until now. i hope we'll have good luck the next decades. -- i just say good-bye. i'll be back for sure in some months when there's more time for me again...
Enescu was Menuhin's teacher and mentor
The third movement is surreal
This was written in 1900? Wow!
this piece is very unique and requires full attention, would like to study it very well. It has the vibe of Schoenberg , Webern and Strauss
That moment when you make a fricken OCTET and the double base still doesn't get included.. poor double bases
he wants agility
@@emanuel_soundtrack Bru, Bottesini
maybe it's because this was written for 2 standard string quartet ensembles? just my guess.
@@zeenohaquo7970 also, i said somewhere that he composed a quartet over other quartet so to say, this would be the easiest way to handle the confusion. I guess the bass alone would make it static and less homogeneous
@@emanuel_soundtrack you mean this started as a standard string quartet then an "accompaniment" or compliment quartet was written for it? interesting! in that case, yes, a sole contrabass would make it non-homogeneous.
I have to ask - it says in the description that the themes in the first movement "are not so much developed [...] as they are fragmented and recombined". I've seen this kind of thing in other places as well. Is fragmentation and recombination not a fairly common method for development? It seems to me that without fragmentation a lot of development sections would be fairly boring as the entire theme would have to be repeated every time. Recombination is less required, but still fairly common in development sections.
What you say makes sense to me too. If those things don't count as development, exactly what does?
This is Enescu's music language : fragmenting,diverting and recombining music cells and figures . Listen,for example ,to his piano sonata no 1,or to the symphony no 2 ( that's a really hard piece to understand; i suggest you listen to it a couple times before developing a opinion) and symphony 3 . Also,the greatest of Enescu's music is in his chamber music works (and in his opera , Oedip) : Violin sonatas, piano sonatas and quartets. You may consider him a " modernist" after hearing some of the pieces, but please consider the fact that his musis has a unique language : be patient with it,and do your best to familiarize yourself to it :D. You'll then understand Enescu, and you will cannot live without him and his music anymore.
( also, as a fact, his Rhapsodies became a burden for him and he began to hate them ,because they were concealing his other composition. You should NOT characterise Enescu after his Rhapsody. First,listen to his really important works. :) )
38:03 JA!
Love that!
34:30
the description is very good, who wrote?
The person who runs the YT channel, probably.
This is the 2nd time I have listened to this and its just as indigestible as the first hearing. Beyond his Rhapsodies and very fine suites for orchestra I'm afraid Enescu is quite beyond me. Nevertheless this performance is completely stunning. Very difficult music indeed from a 19 year old. Good God!
His music is the perfect marriage of Wagner and Brahms build on a foundation based on Bach. This Octect is not even half as complicated as some of the stuff he wrote later in life.
And to think that he wrote this BEFORE his Romanian Rhapsody??
A very nice work, but you can still sense him searching for his voice. The influence of Strauss is strong.
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