As the festival reminds us each time, Enescu’s spirit endures through his music and the younger generation of musicians he inspired. Yehudi Menuhin (a former student and friend) poignantly described Enescu as “the most extraordinary human being, the greatest musician and the most powerful influence ever exercised upon me.”
Although it will take more than magic to transform Romania beyond the month of September, the 21st George Enescu Festival will no doubt enhance our appreciation of Enescu’s music.
This year’s festival inauguration concert features two of the greatest musicians of our time – conductor Daniel Barenboim and Romanian pianist Radu Lupu, whose international career is at its peak. “Never could music come nearer to speech,” wrote journalist Joan Chissell in The Times about his London stage debut in 1969, where he performed Beethoven’s no. 3 Op. 10 piano sonatas. The program includes Enescu’s Romanian Rhapsody no. 2 and Beethoven’s Concerto no. 4 piano for piano and orchestra. Lupu will also perform a piano recital on Wednesday at the Athenaeum.
The festival will feature twenty-six Enescu compositions, including five unusual works (program details at http://festivalenescu.ro/calendar/events).
RUNDFUNK – SINFONIEORCHESTER BERLIN – Wagner Series
Palace Grand Hall, 17.00
Conductor : MAREK JANOWSKI
Programme :
R. Wagner – Siegfried WWV 86C
Soloists :
Siegfried – STEFAN VINKE
Mime – ARNOLD BEZUYEN
Wotan (Wanderer) – EGILS SILINS
Alberich – MARTIN WINKLER
Fafner – SORIN COLIBAN
Brünnhilde – CATHERINE FOSTER
Erda – DANIELA DENSCHLAG
Waldvogels – ILEANA TONCA
Performance subtitled in Romanian
Oana Vasiliu