Back to this after some months, and what a stunning record it is. I make it my business to hear every recording I can find of the Enescu, and this is probably the very best of all (even alongside my various much-adored Romanians). Infinitely observant but always with an eye on the vast architecture - certainly the best recorded, the hall and the players right there in your room on the SACD. A wonderful achievement with an iconic work. The slow movement always seems to “bring me back to myself”, especially if I’m once again sunk in gloom and tension.
The Mendelssohn is more controversial, in that as well as a very free approach to tempo and the shaping of line and paragraph it has a striking dynamic inflection: not just extremes, but frequent shifts in level, sudden sharp accents, leaping out at you and then pulling back into a whisper; shifting up and down, then swelling up again…
Disconcerting at first, the line daringly disruptive, less easy to follow; at times jaggedly dramatic; but the players find unusual intensity in the strange shadowy passage in the development, the andante very dark and impassioned; the scherzo even more hushed than usual. This reading does remind you keenly of the sheer originality of the piece; the strangeness of the inspiration.
A very addictive album; I played both works back to back this time, very unusual for me! And even then took some movement encores…..
Felix Mendelssohn & Enescu: Octets
Meta4, Gringolts Quartet
***
What did you discover...what excited you, in 2020?
The Mendelssohn is more controversial, in that as well as a very free approach to tempo and the shaping of line and paragraph it has a striking dynamic inflection: not just extremes, but frequent shifts in level, sudden sharp accents, leaping out at you and then pulling back into a whisper; shifting up and down, then swelling up again…
Disconcerting at first, the line daringly disruptive, less easy to follow; at times jaggedly dramatic; but the players find unusual intensity in the strange shadowy passage in the development, the andante very dark and impassioned; the scherzo even more hushed than usual. This reading does remind you keenly of the sheer originality of the piece; the strangeness of the inspiration.
A very addictive album; I played both works back to back this time, very unusual for me! And even then took some movement encores…..
Felix Mendelssohn & Enescu: Octets
Meta4, Gringolts Quartet
- Released on 06/03/2020 by BIS CD/SACD/hires
***
What did you discover...what excited you, in 2020?
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The funny thing is I got the covers up on my screen to check I'd remembered the label. Obviously I made the mistake because the name of Ashkenazy is indelibly linked with performances of the music of Hindemith. 
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