George Enescu plays piano, violin; conducting, singing, whistling, teaching, composing

[@OzanFabienGuvener]

Enescu is one of my favorite violinists (his 1924-28 recordings are the most important for me); but he was also one of the most versatile musicians ever recorded. He was a very talented composer, teacher, violinist, conductor and pianist. His piano recordings here are not an actual performance, he is playing short samples of the works he mentioned during the interview, completely unprepared and spontaneous. As seen in the interview series with Bernard Gavoty, from which these piano recordings were taken, he had such a tremendous memory that he could instantly play any piece of work he mentioned. Moreover, he was quite old and sick, but they are still quite impressive. The piano rolls from 1928 also show his great technique. Alfred Cortot, once said that Enescu, though primarily a violinist, had better piano technique than his own, He also said: "Enescu is exactly genius. I don't know if one could have more talent.". He sang the upper melody with his inner voice while playing and conducting revealed his true cantabile-based playing, and he also approached the piano orchestrally at some points. Many musicians such as Debussy, Ravel, Franck, Cortot, Lipatti, Casals, d'Indy, Ysaye, Menuhin were very impressed by Enescu's talent.

[@leonardobastos1945]

Complete GENIUS!! The world needs to rediscover this phenomenon...

[@fredericfrancoischopin6971]

This is just UNBELIAVEBLE! I enjoyed on his whistling so much!!! What a wonderful man! He has the sincerity and sleight of hand of a roman musician and the seriousness of a classical musician. This man's hands can turn the violin into a dancing donna and can also cast a spell on the piano! The fact that you have archived so many recordings of a composer with such dexterity is the greatest treasure here! I can't listen to anyone other than Enescu in the Bach Chaconne! Is there anyone who can convey the painful scream of the piece like Enescu? This man can also turn a violin into a bird haha!

[@OzanFabienGuvener]

His Chaconne recordings are definitely my favorites too!

[@yaekosasaki7656]

Where in the world did this amazing document come from? This demonstrates that music emanates from the pores of great musicians via the mind and soul. The value of technique is in its ability to make this clear and not in bringing attention to itself as the be all and end all of music performance. As Schnabel said, great music is not about fingers. These recordings show us what all great musicians show us- Those elemental forces inherent in the fabric of great music, and their profound connections to life.

[@OzanFabienGuvener]

You explained it very well, I completely agree with you.

[@HofmannScores]

LEGENDARY! Enescu was one of the greatest musicians ever.

[@busraertas7381]

İlgi çekici

[@chopin5981]

Wow great idea and compilation. How many languages ​​did Enescu know? Romanian, French, German and English? It can be seen here that Enescu's English was quite fluent during Brahms rehearsals, which surprised me; I knew that he was fluent in French and German, but it seems that even his English was very fluent. It was clear that he was good at anything he was interested in.

[@Barbapippo]

Cool!

[@PianistsAndMore]

Amazing to hear. Thank you for sharing!

[@OzanFabienGuvener]

Thank you!

[@OldSchoolOpera]

Imagine a full Tristan und Isolde with Enescu conducting. Just imagine that. He is my favorite Romanian musician by a large margin.

[@HofmannScores]

Truly one of the greatest conductors and violinists ever recorded! I love his opera Œdipe despite there being no good recording...

[@OldSchoolOpera]

@ Imagine getting Henri Albers or Marcel Journet in the title role…

[@OzanFabienGuvener]

@@HofmannScores Enescu's conducting is absolutely underrated. His conducting of Beethoven, Brahms and Bach is extraordinary. He makes a big difference even as an accompanist conductor, there are wonderful details even in the Bach concerto recordings in which he accompanied Menuhin or the Beethoven Piano Concerto recordings he made as a conductor with Rudolf Serkin. I heard Œdipe live and wished there were some recordings from Enescu's baton.

[@TheSoteriologist]

I was going to listen only to the Schubert and Bach parts, but his own compositions reveal something about his romanian soul that is even more impressive, something profoundly musical, too innately and instinctively musical for the usual, comparatively cerebral and domesticated classical and romantic repertoire. Was he "gipsy" ? I wonder what would have happened if he had gone into Jazz. In fact, that seemed to be included somehow.

[@OzanFabienGuvener]

First of all, I agree with your observation, I also have a similar observation. As in his composition, we can hear features in his violin technique that are very different from Western techniques; more precisely, he had a more diverse style that included western techniques. As far as I know, he was not a "gypsy", but he took his first music lessons from gypsies, he must have seen and was impressed by the way Gypsy musicians produced music by following their unsystematic, innate inner voices. Additionally, according to Menuhin, Enescu was very knowledgeable outside of classical western music, and Enescu introduced Menuhin to Asian and African music. Enescu also had a great interest in nature. He was interested in primitive, folkloric music as well as western music. I think this is how he was able to produce not only European music, but also untamed music that can be followed by instincts when necessary. Enescu seems to be able to compose in the European system as well as compose completely without any system. Even though composers such as Bartok, Debussy and Messien were interested in non-European music, their early education was entirely European. Compared to Enescu, many "classical" composers viewed and were interested in non-European music from a more external perspective. Enescu was subjected to two types of education from the very beginning, and he was not introduced to non-European music at a late age, he was born into it. I think that makes a bit of a difference.