INSPIRATIONS & DREAMS
LUIZA BORAC, Piano
Profil PH17000 (2 CDs) / ****1/2
This
double-disc album is Romanian pianist Luiza Borac's tribute to her compatriot,
the violinist-composer and polymath George Enescu (1881-1955), or Georges
Enesco in the Gallicised version of his name. Enescu, who is probably best
known as Yehudi Menuhin's teacher and mentor, studied in Paris during the turn
of the 19th century and kept company with the likes of Debussy,
Ravel and Nadia Boulanger.
This heady era of musical experimentation and
emerging modernism is celebrated by works like Debussy's 12 Études,
Ravel's Gaspard de la Nuit and La Valse, all repertoire staples,
which Borac performs with virtuosic flair and stylistic sophistication.
Rarities
include first recordings of two waltzes and a 4-voiced Fugue by Enescu,
which although derivative, are charming and well-crafted. Whoever thought that
Enescu's wrote piano transcriptions of Sarasate's Gypsy Airs (originally
for violin) or his rip-roaring First Romanian Rhapsody? These are
unusual takes which do not sound
completely idiomatic but make enjoyable listening. Equally pleasurable are the Five
Bagatelles by fellow countryman Marcel Mihalovici.
This curious collection
is rounded up with a lively performance of Schumann's Piano Concerto
with the Romanian National Radio Orchestra and a 2-minute encore of Ahnung,
a fragment discarded from Kinderszenen (Scenes of Childhood) that
was discovered in 2009 and premiered by Borac.
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