Enescu String Octet
Today and tomorrow WHRB is broadcasting an Enescu (also spelled Enesco) Orgy. As I was driving home from work just now, I was pleased to hear them playing his String Octet, a wonderful work.
I was introduced to the Octet relatively recently, just a year or two ago, and it quickly became one of my favorite pieces. I first heard it played by Gidon Kremer and company, and later ordered the recording by the Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields Chamber Ensemble. The performance I heard tonight was different than either of those. At first, I thought it must be an old recording, because the sound quality was not very good. Then after listening for a while, I thought perhaps it was a student recording (who knows - it’s possible, right? - it’s a college station, anyway), because I was hearing some shaky intonation, and because I wasn’t hearing the overzealous vibrato you hear on so many old recordings. But then I heard them flip the record over. When the piece was over, my initial suspicion was proven correct - it was a recording from the 1950’s, conducted by Enescu himself.
Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields Chamber Ensemble
- Enesco Octet
- Strauss Sextet from Capriccio
- Shostakovich Two pieces for String Octet
At any rate, I probably wouldn’t buy that recording (if it’s even available - probably isn’t) unless you are a big historical recording buff. The Kremer and Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields recordings are both very good. The Kremer recording isn’t actually played by a string octet, though. Instead, it features a string orchestra, complete with bass section. It makes for a very nice, lush sound, which is probably part of why I fell so in love with the piece.
This is a wonderful piece for the first viola (and first violin, but that goes without saying). There are so many huge gorgeous solos, including the lengthy canon played between the first violin and viola at the beginning of the piece.
A difficulty with this piece is getting the balance right. With eight instruments playing away, it can be hard for any one part to be heard. The non-melodic parts have to play very transparently for it to work. I’ve only sight-read the Octet once, and it’s not an easy piece in general. I’d love to play it seriously one of these days, though (with coachings and concert and everything).
July 17th, 2005 at 12:09 pm
I am trying to learn the third vln part of the enesco octet very rapidly - festival in three days. I find the metronome markings of the second movement very curious and basically unplayable - minim=80 and I have to fit 12 notes into every minim. the opening tempo of the second mov (minim=132) also seems almost twice as fast as I would expect and the closing tempo of minim=200 is just absurd! unfortunately I’ve never heard the piece and haven’t time to listen to a recording. Does anyone know whether the metronome markings are accurate or not?
July 17th, 2005 at 2:36 pm
Hi Mary,
I happen to have a copy of the viola I part of the Enescu, so I sat down with my metronome and the St. Martin-in-the-Fields recording.
The tempo they take in the beginning of the second movement is more around 118 per half note. In the Moins vite section, they take it around 72 or 74. So they’re somewhat slower than the markings, but still in the same ball-park. The Extremement vite tempo they play right on the dot of 200 bpm.
Unfortunately I don’t gave a copy of the Kremer recording right now, but I do know that their tempos were definitely different in certain spots. I don’t remember if they were faster or slower - they might have taken some of those spots in the second movement slower, but I’m not sure.
I think those 12-tuplets in the lower violin parts are mostly atmospheric, more of a gesture than anything. The first violin and viola parts are the ones that make more sense, probably, when considering the metronome markings. But yes, it is definitely fast.