Customer Reviews

George Enescu: His Life and Music

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The book, the first attempt of this kind in the West, tells the story of the life and development as a composer of George Enescu, a neglected genius of the 20th Century classical music. Noel Malcolm, being the first Westerner to be given full access to study Enescu's manuscripts in the G. Enescu Museum in Bucharest, was able to produce here a wonderful biography written to appeal to the non-specialist reader as well as to the musicologist.

An all-round musician, once described by Pablo Casals as "the greatest musical phenomenon since Mozart", Enescu was not only one of the greatest violinists of the century, but a distinguished pianist and conductor too, an enlightened teacher (Yehudi Menuhin was one of his pupils) and a tireless and selfless organizer of the burgeoning musical life in his native Romania. Certainly these numerous activities limited the quantity of his compositional output, but they in no way affected its exquisite quality.

Only now we are beginning to probe beyond the picturesque Romanian Rhapsodies to rediscover the genius of his other works, such as his second and third symphonies, the third orchestral suite, the symphonic poem Vox Maris, and of course, Oedipe, a supreme masterpiece in the history of opera and undoubtedly one of the peaks of 20th Century music.

No one was more modest or less egocentric than this truly great man. A reason why he is so little known in the West is also his refusal to self publicize his works. And unlike two of his contemporaries (these two being also amongst my favorite composers!), Richard Strauss, a loyal supporter of the Nazis and Dmitry Shostakovich, a puppet of the Soviets, Enescu showed very high standards of character. Remaining true to his principles and moral values he chose self imposed exile in Paris rather than having to deal with the communist regime installed in Romania by the Soviet Union in 1947.

Finally, the book as well as the ever-growing number of recordings of his compositions, all milestones in raising the awareness of Enescu's genius, enable us to place him among the foremost shapers of 20th Century music. My belief is that is just a matter of time before his reputation would start to rival Bartok's.