Piano Quintet (Enescu)
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The Piano Quintet in
A minor A minor is a minor scale based on A, with the pitches A, B, C, D, E, F, and G. Its key signature has no flats and no sharps. Its relative major is C major and its parallel major is A major. The A natural minor scale is: : Changes ...
, Op. 29, is a
chamber music Chamber music is a form of classical music that is composed for a small group of instruments—traditionally a group that could fit in a palace chamber or a large room. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small numb ...
work by the Romanian composer
George Enescu George Enescu (; – 4 May 1955), known in France as Georges Enesco, was a Romanian composer, violinist, conductor and teacher. Regarded as one of the greatest musicians in Romanian history, Enescu is featured on the Romanian five lei. Biog ...
, written in 1940.


History

The year 1940 was comparatively quiet for Enescu. Romania had not yet entered the Second World War, and his schedule of concerts was not as intense as had been the case in the First World War, which gave him time to complete two major compositions, the ''
Impressions d'enfance The (Childhood Impressions), Op. 28, is a suite for violin and piano written by George Enescu and completed on 10 April 1940. The score is dedicated to the memory of Eduard Caudella, the composer's first violin teacher. History and music E ...
'' for violin and piano, and the Piano Quintet. The manuscript of the Quintet indicates that the first pair of movements was completed at Enescu's villa
Luminiș The Luminiș Villa, George Enescu Memorial House is located in the Cumpătu district, the only suburb of Sinaia, Romania. The villa is situated on the right bank of Prahova River. It was owned by the Romanian composer and musician George Enesc ...
in
Sinaia Sinaia () is a town and a mountain resort in Prahova County, Romania. It is situated in the historical region of Muntenia. The town was named after the Sinaia Monastery of 1695, around which it was built. The monastery, in turn, is named after t ...
on 24 September 1940, but the remaining pair of movements is undated, and Enescu continued making small revisions as late as 1949. The score is dedicated to the memory of the pianist (and Enescu's early patron) Princess Elena Bibescu. The work was not performed in Enescu's lifetime, but was finally premiered in Bucharest in 1964 by (amongst others)
Valentin Gheorghiu Valentin Gheorghiu (; born 21 March 1928) is a Romanian classical pianist and composer. Biography Gheorghiu was born in Galaţi, Romania in 1928. He was first a pupil of Constanța Erbiceanu at the Bucharest Academy of Music and then of Lazar ...
, piano, and Ștefan Gheorghiu, first violin.


Analysis

The Quintet is in four movements, grouped in two "commanding musical blocks" of two movements each: * Con moto molto moderato * Andante sostenuto e cantabile * Vivace, ma non troppo * Più tranquillo The overriding feature of the
cyclic Cycle, cycles, or cyclic may refer to: Anthropology and social sciences * Cyclic history, a theory of history * Cyclical theory, a theory of American political history associated with Arthur Schlesinger, Sr. * Social cycle, various cycles in s ...
melodic material that contributes to unifying all of the movements of this Quintet is the constant presence of a " modal fifth": a formula that fits each of the motives within the framework of a
perfect fifth In music theory, a perfect fifth is the Interval (music), musical interval corresponding to a pair of pitch (music), pitches with a frequency ratio of 3:2, or very nearly so. In classical music from Western culture, a fifth is the interval fro ...
, thus establishing an underlying
pentachord A pentachord in music theory may be either of two things. In pitch-class set theory, a pentachord is defined as any five pitch classes, regarded as an unordered collection . In other contexts, a pentachord may be any consecutive five-note section ...
al modal torso. Put another way, the displayed motives may be regarded as various kinds of melodic "disguisings" of the modal fifth over the course of the Quintet.


Discography

Chronologically, by date of recording. * George Enescu: Piano Quintet in A Minor, Op. 29. Valentin Gheorghiu, piano; Ștefan Gheorghiu, George Nicolescu, violins; Valeriu Pitulac, viola; Aurel Niculescu, cello. LP recording, 1 disc: 12 in., 33⅓ rpm, stereo. Electrecord ST-ECE 01913. Bucharest: Electrecord, 1977. (reissued 1981) * George Enescu: Piano Quintet in A Minor, Op. 29. Yvonne Piedemonte-Prelipcean piano; Voces Quartet (Bujor Prelipcean, Anton Diaconu, violins; Gheorghe Haag, viola; Dan Prelipcean, cello). 12 in., 33⅓ rpm, stereo. Electrecord ST-ECE 01855. Bucharest: Electrecord, 1981. * George Enescu: Octet, Op. 7; Quintet, Op. 29. Kremerata Baltica, Gidon Kremer, cond. (Octet); Andrius Zlabys, piano; Gidon Kremer, Dzeraldas Bidva, violins; Ula Ulijona, viola; Marta Sudraba, cello (Quintet). Octet recorded June 2000 at the Angelika-Kauffmann-Saal, Schwarzenberg, Austria; Quintet recorded November 2001 at the Probesaal der Philharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz, Ludwigshafen, Germany. CD recording, 1 disc: 4¾ in., stereo. Nonesuch 79682-2.New York: Nonesuch Records, 2002. * George Enescu: Piano Quintet, Op. 29; Piano Quartet No. 2, Op. 30. The Solomon Ensemble (Dominic Saunders, piano; Anne Solomon, Andrew Roberts, violins; Ralf Ehlers, viola; Rebecca Gilliver, cello). Recorded at Potton Hall, Suffolk, England, 22–24 September 2001. CD recording, 1 disc: 4¾ in., stereo. Naxos 8.557159.
anada Anada (russian: Анада; av, АнгӀада) is a rural locality (a selo) in Khidibsky Selsoviet, Tlyaratinsky District, Republic of Dagestan, Russia. The population was 49 as of 2010. Geography Anada is located 19 km north of Tlyarata ...
HNH International, 2003. * George Enescu: Piano Trio; Piano Quintet; Aria and Scherzino. Remus Azoitei, violin; Schubert Ensemble (Simon Blendis and Alexandra Wood, violins; Douglas Paterson, viola; Jane Salmon, cello; Peter Buckoke, double bass; William Howard, piano). Recorded Potten Hall, Dunwich, Suffolk, 1–2 October 2012 (Piano Trio); 22–23 January 2013 (Quintet; Aria and Scherzino). CD recording, 1 disc: 4¾ in., stereo. Chandos CHAN 10790. Colchester: Chandos Records Ltd., 2013.


References


Cited sources

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External links

* {{Authority control Compositions by George Enescu 1940 compositions Compositions in A minor