George Enescu

Hi guys,

I mentioned George Enescu at our last rehearsal. Enescu was a virtuoso composer, violinist, pianist and conductor from Romania. Born in 1881, died in 1955; so, not too long ago.

His music was heavily influenced by Romanian folk music. His Sonata No. 3 for violin and piano, subtitled "dans le caractère populaire roumain" is the best example of his painstaking work of notating the traditional style of gypsy fiddlers, and adapted to his original music. Also, the writing in the piano makes it sound almost like a cimbalom. Super cool stuff.

Enescu himself happened to record this sonata twice, and I just found one of these recordings on YouTube, on a video that shows the score with the music.

This is relevant to us right now because Bartok (who is Hungarian) wrote his Romanian Dances with these gypsy sounds in mind.

I encourage you to google George Enescu and read about him. Also google his Sonata No. 3 and read (at the very least) the wikipedia article about it. And finally, enjoy the video below.

Best,

Mr. Gómez

P.S. I played this sonata in one of my doctoral recitals :)