Interview with pianist Daria Parkhomenko about her recording of Enescu's music

The debut recording from pianist Daria Parkhomenko, a Russian of Romanian origin, features three major works by George Enescu. To celebrate its release on the Prospero Classical label, I discuss her love of Enescu's music in an interview below.

[Image credit: Michael Reinicke]

ED: How did you first encounter George Enescu’s music? How long have you been playing Enescu’s music for?
 
DP: As a performer, I began to learn the music of George Enescu 4 years ago, in 2018. I took part at the George Enescu International Competition in Bucharest and obligatory piece in the semifinal was one of his piano works. At that time I knew quite a lot of his symphonic music, chamber music, violin sonatas, but his piano works were unknown to me. I chose the second suite for the semifinal, and I really fell in love with this music.

After the competition, I was motivated to learn more his piano works. After the Second Suite I started to learn the first piano sonata, which would later become my favorite, and later, I was interested to learn more, and I opened the scores of the Third piano sonata, which I learned quite quickly, as I had a lot of time during the pandemic. 

The inexhaustibility of Enescu's fantasy in his music is amazing and makes his music special and captivates every listener, and this inspired me to record my first album with three piano works by him.

ED: Your debut recording includes three major piano pieces by Enescu – the two sonatas and the second piano suite. How important are these pieces for you as a pianist?

DP: As I like very much 20th century music in general, I was interested to learn new music from this time for my concert programmes. And despite the fact that pianists have an extremely large repertoire, I am very happy to learn new piano works, especially if they are little known to listeners, and present it to the audience. 

For me, as for musician, a new piano piece is like a new book. It is always an occasion to discover something new in music and in yourself. Definitely through this music it helped me develop as a musician in many ways, I developed as an artist, discovering and playing his music.  As I have Romanian roots, Enescu’s music has a very special connection to me.  I am very happy that I have discovered this gorgeous music, and feel that I have learned more about Romanian culture and I understood myself deeper as a Romanian.

ED: How did you approach recording the works? What specific interpretive points did you want to make about them?

DP: It is surprising that there are not so many recordings of these works, and at the very beginning of studying the text and understanding the concept of this music, it was not so easy for me. In many aspects, his music is complex in structure and I want to note that he wrote his notes in scores in great detail regarding tempos, dynamics, colors. In general, it is unusually curious to learn music with a clean slate, it inspires much more to create your own interpretation.

Watch the CD trailer above

ED: Enescu lived as an international musician - in Romania, in Paris and he toured extensively. At heart, though, he was Romanian. What Romanian influences do you find in his piano writing?

DP: Enescu was a giant musician, and he composed music that was different both emotionally and stylistically, the inspiration for which was the music of Brahms, the music of french impressionists, and of course the Romanian folk music. 

The folk art of his homeland was primarily an inspiration for his works. Therefore, in each of his works, in addition to the influence of classical and romantic traditions, the influence of folk songs and dances can be felt. For example, the First piano sonata is an example of his unique compositional style. I find especially thrilling the mixture of Romanian folklore and turn of the century French Impressionism. In my opinion, both the piano sonatas, for their musical language and technical means, are among the most difficult of Enescu's pieces for piano.

ED: Enescu’s music often presents many challenges to a performer. What challenges did you find in these works?

DP: His music is extremely rich in different types of effects and diverse emotions through musical gestures and diverse dynamics. I feel this interesting combination fits quite well and his music is very close to my heart.

Most important was for me to show the variety of his compositional effects, which Enescu heard in many ways as a violinist. And for performer this is a very interesting creative process, that comes a lot from imagining and hearing these effects rather than technical abilities. I would like to acquaint and involve as many listeners as possible with the piano repertoire of Enescu.

ED: I know you often play Enescu’s piano works within your recital programmes. What do you find the audience reaction is to them?

DP: After winning the Enescu competition, I combined various programs for my recitals, included piano and chamber works by Enescu, and I am very pleased that many listeners listened to this wonderful music with great interest, as did I myself. 

I remember my first performance of the 1 piano sonata in Hamburg, which I learned for my master exam, and I did not expect to get so many positive reviews about only this sonata, and it’s motivated me a lot. It often happens that if a piece of work is little known to the listener, he is not always able to fully understand the music and perceive it. Enescu's music is largely ambiguous. And as a performer, it is interesting and very valuable for me to hear the understanding of the meaning of this music from different people, that is, how they hear this music and how they perceive it.

ED: Enescu wrote a great deal of other music for the piano, are any of those in your repertoire? Do you plan to play or record other pieces by Enescu in the future?

DP: I also performed the third violin sonata, arranged for classical saxophone, which is very unusual, and I managed to perform this year in concert, it was very interesting and exciting experience. And of course, I would like to learn many other works of Enescu, both for piano and chamber music and arrangements.

Enescu was a brilliant musician and a great teacher. He had an incredible aura that captivated audiences. The passion, the colourfulness and the melancholy of his music makes this music very attractive to the listener. I am very happy to recommend all pianists in the world to familiarize themselves with the piano works of George Enescu. And I believe that people will inspired by this wonderful music as much as I am!

ED: Thank you very much, Daria. I wish you all the best for your recording, future career and further discovery of Enescu's music.

Interview with violinist Nicolas Dautricourt about The Enescu Project

The violinist Nicolas Dautricourt discusses his discovery of Enescu's music with me and introduces his new recording, The Enescu Project, available on the Orchid Classics label.

ED: Nicolas, thank you for agreeing to an interview about Enescu's music, which I have loved for many years. How did you first encounter George Enescu’s music? How long have you been playing Enescu’s music for?

ND:  A very long time ago, nearly 20 years, at the occasion of a summer festival in the US, I heard a friend of mine, So-Ock Kim, an extraordinary violinist who works now at Beare’s, the famous string instruments workshops, performing it. She played it marvellously, and on the top of, everything by heart, which represents a HUGE challenge! 

I didn’t fall in love with the piece, but I really admired the performance, it was extremely impressive.

A few years after, I had to play with another friend of mine the pianist Dana Ciocarlie, and to be totally honest, if I enjoyed the general atmosphere, I didn’t feel myself very much at ease with all the indications that are written in the music, dynamics, tempo markings, articulations and so on; I must say that, since I like to be free with my interpretations in general and choose, rather, to take distances with indications and rely on my instinct, it was blocking me a bit, and I didn’t really have fun, as if I drove a car in the middle of wonderful landscapes, but had to check the meter with speed and consummation every 2 seconds.

This was a bit frustrating… And then, in 2015, I discovered the String Octet…

ED: What was the inspiration behind your new CD, “The Enescu Project”?

ND: The Enescu Project is a musical and also human adventure, around this piece, the prodigious Octet for strings, that Enescu composed when he was 19 years old. The main inspiration, the only one that prevails, was in my mind to let people know how this piece is a genius piece, and the roads, after, all converged to this goal.

 

ED: In your view, how is Enescu’s music appreciated or known by audiences today? When you have played Enescu’s music, what has been the reaction of listeners to it?

ND: It’s difficult to say; Enescu is known by Romanian people, he’s known by musicians, and i think that’s it. 

And actually in concert, it’s mostly well received, but if you really want your message to go through, you have to play it really with your guts, with intensity and passion, with full physical and emotional commitment, because it’s the language can be a bit hard sometimes, especially for people who don’t have much frames of references in classical music. 

ED: On the recording, you include repertoire by composers that Enescu studied with, or collaborated with as a performer. How important is it that Enescu’s music is appreciated in the context of his peers?

ND: I imagined this project as an exhibition, like a pictural exhibition.

You enter the museum to attend an exhibition from a famous painter for example, there are some rooms where you can admire his works from the youth, some rooms where you can see the paintings from the contemporaries, some other where you see some draws, etc etc, and everything leads you at the end, to the great room where you see the masterpieces.

This was a bit of this idea when we built the program of the Enescu Project, the idea of a line, a thread, a road alongside which you discover Enescu from various angles, a road where also your desire to discover what it hides at the end, step by step, piece by piece, is sharpened, and finally, to finish, the « chef d’œuvre ».

ED: As a performer, what makes the Octet special for you?

ND: This piece is indeed very special to me, as like I said, it represents not only the musical aspect, but also the human adventure around it.

When I decided to play the piece, without knowing already that it would become a project, a CD and so on, I gathered around me my closest friends, people I respect a lot and feel at ease to play music with, and this is a big part of the assets of this project, the human aspect.

In general I am not willing anymore to share neither life nor even stage with people I don’t particularly get along with.

So especially when I have the choice, I choose the persons I really love, and it’s a crucial part of the success of a project.

ED: How did your collaborators on the recording react to the Octet? How did you approach the work? 

ND: My partners all love the piece, and they fell in love with it just, as I did few years in advance! 

We approach the work with passion but not hysterical. The way we play it, I think, I HOPE that people can say that we are 1000 percent sincere, and don’t use the piece to shine or to show our capacities, virtuosity and so on.

We wanted an interpretation where we can feel our devotion to this piece and its genius author, and like I like to say, none of us are stars in this album/project, HE is the only one!!

ED: Do you plan to play or record other pieces by Enescu in the future?

ND: I have no plan so far to record any of other Enescu’s works but why not…I just performed his first piano quartet which I really liked very much so…who knows what future brings!

ED: Thank you! Hopefully you will continue to explore Enescu's music.

CD Review: Sandro Fuga - Piano sonatas 1-3 (G and C Fuga, C Voghera, piano) Naxos 8.579110

Sandro Fuga (1906-1994) was a prolific composer who has been somewhat overlooked in recent years. Like several other Italian composers of his generation, he came under the influence of Franco Alfano and Giorgio Federico Ghedini – very much opposite ends of the spectrum – both of whom he studied with.

It would appear that when it came to the sonata form, for Sandro Fuga they came in threes: there are a trio of sonatas for piano, violin (recorded on Naxos 8.573142) and cello (recorded on Tactus TC900601). The first and third sonatas are in four movements, the second sonata in three movements.

Fuga’s piano writing, if these recordings are anything to go by, was extremely varied. That said, in these works the imprint of Alfano and Ghedini is hard to detect. There is little doubt that the sonata form pre-occupied him, yet repeated listening shows that his approach to it became more sequential and episodic rather than focussed upon thematic development. As Flavio Menardi Noguera’s useful liner notes make clear, Fuga’s writing is honest, direct and founded upon the many fluctuations of tempo and sonority that inhabit his works. Melody, harmony and rhythm are Fuga’s bedrocks, though sometimes it is all too easy to hear the cracks between them, as it were. Fuga was not always the master of integration, which is why perhaps why I find them of niche interest, rather than something I will revisit often.

The recordings are fine – family members Giacomo and Carlotta Fuga (Sandro’s children, one assumes) take the first and second sonatas respectively. The third sonata is played by Claudio Voghera, who studied with Luciano Giarbella, one of the elder Fuga’s pupils. Each artist has the measure of their respective works and one has the feeling that each recording is more personally important to me than I find them.

CD Review: Shostakovich / Weinberg Piano trios & songs (Kateryna Kasper and Trio Vivente) cpo 555367-2

The pairing of works by mentor and mentee composers can make for a good concept on record. Shostakovich and Weinberg were just two such composers; they knew each other and exchanged artistic ideas for many years. On this recording, the comparison bears fruit through the pairing of piano trios and song cycles.

Shostakovich’s First Piano Trio, from 1923, is an early work. Audibly more carefree than his later compositions, it is notable for being written in a single movement. The Trio Vivente give it a convincing reading, with the instrumental lines clearly articulated in a demonstration quality recording. There is a greater contrast of emotions to be traversed within Weinberg’s Piano Trio, written in 1945. The white-hot passions of the Prelude and Toccata might be more immediately captured in the recordings led by Gidon Kremer (DG) or Linus Roth (Evil Penguin), but Trio Vivente acquit themselves with honour nonetheless. Nowhere is this more the case than in the Trio’s Aria and Poem, which are played with sophistication.

Shostakovich sets the bar rather high with his powerful setting of Seven Romances on Verses by Alexander Blok, written in 1967. Although the instrumental accompaniment provides shades of gloominess, the vocal part is almost uniformly bombastic in nature. This, Kateryna Kasper provides in spades, whilst the Trio Vivente are attentive to the nuances inherent within the accompaniment. More vocal subtlety is evident in Weinberg’s earliest published work, the Jewish Songs, written in 1943. A collection of miniatures that is quirky yet forthright at times, they provide adroit insight to the texts set, bookended by vocalises.

If you are new to Weinberg’s music, this release could provide a way in to his absorbing sound-world, even though you might end your listening experience with the impression he wrote under Shostakovich’s shadow. For that reason alone, it is worth exploring Weinberg beyond the confines of a single recording: there are interesting things to be discovered.

CD Review: Mozart / Voříšek: Symphonies in D (Gewandhaus / Herbert Blomstedt, conductor) Accentus ACC30574

Blessed with talent and longevity, Herbert Blomstedt’s ascension to his position as one of today’s most revered conductors has been a slow and steady one. For many, he was known for his advocacy of Nielsen, Mendelssohn, Orff, Richard Strauss and Sibelius through his Decca recordings, alongside other recordings of Hindemith, Roger Sessions and Harbison amongst others, which might have hinted at his musically enquiring mind. One former Decca exec told me he considered Blomstedt talented but without the charisma to really grab public attention – a somewhat unfair assessment. Since then, the standard fare of Beethoven, Brahms and Schubert symphonic cycles were committed to disc, but so too have accounts of works by Stenhammer, Lidholm and Rosenberg, which hint at the conductors Swedish ancestry.

The present recording is the latest from Blomstedt and Leipzig’s Gewandhaus Orchestra, with whom he has a long association. On one level, the offering of two D major symphonies might be slightly mean, particularly as one of them is Mozart’s “Jupiter”. Does one really need another recording of that? Maybe not, but then, really its role here is to provide context for the Jan Václav Voříšek (1791-1825) symphony. As one of the great Czech composers, these live recordings made in September 2020, capture concerts dedicated to the Gewandhaus Orchestra’s Czech former chief conductor Václav Neumann.

It is hard to fault the performances of either work, but, for me, it’s the Voříšek one that is the most ear-catching. Elegantly played and directed with refined brio, the first of its four movements is driven forward but not at the expense of musicality. The second movement is no less sophisticated, but its tone is more moody and introspective. Blomstedt captures the atmosphere in a way that Charles Mackerras did not quite in his recording for Decca, as Blomstedt handles the transitions with greater confidence. The third movement could be what Schubert might had written, if only he was Czech. The final movement is robust and riotous, as much fun as it is decent to have with the symphonic form.

The Mozart symphony could be said to be performed with scant regard for historically informed practices: it’s an Old School big boned affair with the repeats observed. To my mind, the symphony benefits from this and surely Mozart knew what he intended. Many of the same characteristics that marked out the Voříšek symphony are present here too: superbly handled transitions, detailed yet unobtrusive playing, excellently atmospheric recording quality. The final movement is lengthy due to the repeats, but it is upbeat and filled with sunshine. What more could one want? More Voříšek, perhaps.

CD Review: Enescu Piano Quartet 1; Piano Trio in A Minor (Josu De Soluan, piano, etc) Naxos 8573616

This cracking release brings together two of Enescu’s most brilliant, yet neglected, chamber music compositions.

He attempted writing a piano quartet in 1893, aged twelve, when the young violinist and composer was already a well-established student at the Vienna Conservatoire. His first mature and complete piano quartet, op.16, only followed in 1909 by which time Enescu had transferred to Paris to continue his studies. An early performance was given at Ravel's newly-established Société Indépendante Musicale on 18 May 1910 with Enescu at the piano. The piano quartet is a lengthy work that has sometimes been criticised for not deliberately advancing Enescu's compositional style, but its generosity of expression, thematic material and warm mood peppered with purposeful contrasts offer ample compensations to the listener and makes it deserving of a far wider audience. Throughout, one senses Enescu the composer-architect at work, concerning himself with structural balance and sonata form as integral elements that build and shape his musical edifice. Unsurprisingly, given his Parisian surroundings, various French influences are to be detected.

The opening Allegro moderato at times can sound rather like Chausson, given that the piano part is filled out with tremolo and arpeggio figures, and the movement's lengthy, inexorable fugal elaboration owes much to Fauré, but the unison opening strikingly gives prominence to Enescu's Romanian musical roots; recall similarly narrative passages in the Octet or First Orchestral Suite, for example. The closing coda is noteworthy also for the intricacy of its construction. The second movement is sparsely scored, as befits the marking Andante Mesto, mesto meaning 'sad'; Enescu heightens the effect through rhythmic ambiguity. Fauré again casts a shadow, but discernibly with an Enescuvian turn of phrase, thus bringing matters to a head before subsiding. The closing Vivace brings welcome humour to the proceedings; the strings are once again in unison whist the piano makes pointedly abrupt contributions to impart a Bachian feel momentarily. The middle section contrasts at length through its lyricism, before elements from both sections are woven together by way of conclusion.

The Piano Trio in A minor is one of three compositions he completed in 1916. Apparently written at speed within a month – the final movement is dated 22 March, when Enescu was in a Bucharest hospital – the work remains without an opus number. The opening Allegro Moderato’s notable feature is a real Enescu hallmark: marrying rhapsodic feeling within a tightly structured sonata form. The Allegretto con Variazioni, the last formal set of variations Enescu wrote, begins with less harmonically demanding writing that is closer in flavour to the piano suite. However much of the material given by the violin and cello is quite depressing, with the listeners invited to witness something akin to a Marche Funebre. In contrast to many other of his wartime works, here the emotional atmosphere of the times fully breaks through into Enescu’s writing. The closing Vivace amabile sees a return to the happier mood that imbues the opening movement in music that is replete with freshness and sparkle.

Both performances capture the requisite moods for the works. The performers play the music with such sweep and grandeur of ensemble that demonstrates it is fully within their fingers. Additionally, there is attention to individual lines and details: with Enescu the devil is always in the detailed myriad of markings and instructions that litter the score. The violinist Stefan Tarara, viola player Molly Carr, cellist Eun-Sung Hong and pianist Josu De Solaun all acquit themselves with honour. De Solaun’s experience with Enescu’s solo piano music – his cycle on the Grand Piano label is a good supplement to Luiza Borac’s recordings on Avie – pays dividends on the present recording too. Yes, good alternatives to this recording do exist, but if you have not heard these works before, why look any further? Useful if brief liner notes and demonstration quality sound round out this highly recommendable recording. Recordings like this are exactly what Enescu’s music needs (and requires) to bring it to the widest public, presented it in the best possible light. More from these artists, please.

CD Review: Maria Bach chamber music (Christine Busch, violin et al) cpo 555341-2

Maria Bach (1896–1978), was an Austrian pianist, violinist and composer, she was also active as a painter. Back then, growing up in an extremely artistic household near Vienna was the norm for anyone entering society. Brahms, Korngold, Nikisch, Klimt, Kokoschka were frequent visitors; Joseph Marx was her most important teacher at the Vienna Music Academy for piano and composition. Although, as the three works on this release demonstrate, her style bears comparison with Marx or Korngold as all three composers favoured a luxurious instrumental sound and harmonies that exploit this, Bach’s style is nonetheless wholly her own. Though the trio of works are all on the early side in terms of her oeuvre (cello sonata 1924; “Wolga” piano quintet 1928; string quintet 1936), nothing about them is slight. By the 1930s, Maria Bach was firmly established as a composer.

The cello sonata is the most straightforward of the three works on this release. It is carefully written, indeed at times perhaps too carefully: you can hear the mind working on how best to take it forward when more impetus might have lent the result a greater sense of the impromptu. That said, it nevertheless has a strong impact due to Bach's own harmonic language, which is never less than ear-catching. Mathias Johansen and Yukie Takao play the sonata for all it is worth.

The two other works demonstrate that Maria Bach appears to have had an affinity for the theme and variations form. This lies at the heart of both works, though the piano quintet is the more extrovert and richly textured of the pieces. The middle movement variations upon the Wolga lied lend the string quintet its nickname. However, it is the instrumental textures more than anything that I find absorbing in Maria Bach’s writing. Violinists Christine Busch and Elene Meipariani, viola player Klaus Christa and cellist Mathias Johansen are joined by cellist Conradin Brotbek to give the string quintet a committed reading. This is also evident in the piano quintet, for which the core four players are joined by Akiko Shiochi at the keyboard. The recorded sound, from different radio sessions in 2019 and 2020 is excellent, but the accompanying notes on Maria Bach and the three compositions fall short on detail. A pity, as for many this release could be their first encounter with this music.

It is interesting to note that another recording of Maria Bach’s chamber music was released almost simultaneously with this one. That recording, also features the cello sonata and the "Wolga" piano quintet, but with the solo cello sonata, on the Hänssler label.