Enescu Symphonies 1-3/etc.

[Alan Howe]

...forthcoming from Cristian Măcelaru, conducting the Orchestre National de France (on DG):
https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/9607401--enescu-symphonies-nos-1-3-romanian-rhapsodies-1-2

[Alan Howe]

This 3-CD set is now out - and should do much to bring Enescu's vibrant (and somewhat left-field) symphonies to the public's attention. At around £20 for the set it's something of a bargain. Perhaps the conductor, Cristian Măcelaru, will be introducing us to further unusual repertoire in future recordings.

[Ilja]

Thanks, this sounds like a really interesting set; not least because they show a very clear musical evolution. However, that might even be more illustrated if everyone didn't keep forgetting about the other symphonies. After all, Enescu wrote nine of the things. 

Now, I sort of understand the reluctance about Bentoiu's completions of the E minor (1934) and D major (1941). But the neglect of the "Study symphonies" is more difficult to fathom. The fact that they were written when in he was his teens doesn't mean they've stopped being symphonies all of a sudden; the "study symphony" ephitet to justify ignoring them is even possibly even more moronic than talking about numbers "00" and "0" (Bruckner) or just assigning random symphony numbers to orchestral things even if they're not symphonies (Mendelssohn).

[Alan Howe]

Only two of the 'Study Symphonies' have been recorded and Nos.2 and 3 are presumed lost. I haven't listened to the completions of (the much later) Nos.4 and 5 for ages - I'll have to dig them out. Certainly it'd be good to have the two surviving early symphonies in new recordings, though they are very early and uncharacteristic - No.1 in D minor is from 1895, (No.2 in F major from 1895, No.3 in F major from 1896) and No.4 in E flat from 1898, i.e. all were written by the time Enescu was seventeen.

The same applies to Dohnanyi, of course. And Tippett. And Sibelius. And Arnell. Perhaps.