Enescu: Piano Trio, Piano Quintet & Aria and Scherzino Remus Azoitei & Schubert Ensemble

• George Enescu (1881 - 1955): Piano Quintet, Op. 29:
• 1 Enescu: Piano Quintet, Op. 29: I. Con moto molto moderato 08:37
• 2 Enescu: Piano Quintet, Op. 29: I. Andante sostenuto e cantabile 11:19
• 3 Enescu: Piano Quintet, Op. 29: II. Vivace, ma non troppo 04:56
• 4 Enescu: Piano Quintet, Op. 29: II. L'istesso tempo 09:02
• Piano Trio in A Minor:
• 5 Enescu: Piano Trio in A Minor: I. Allegro moderato 07:05
• 6 Enescu: Piano Trio in A Minor: II. Allegretto con variazioni. Allegretto moderato 05:54
• 7 Enescu: Piano Trio in A Minor: III. Andante 08:20
• Aria and Scherzino:
• 8 Enescu: Aria and Scherzino: I. Aria. Lent 02:14
• 9 Enescu: Aria and Scherzino: II. Scherzino. Assez vif 03:07
• Total Runtime 01:00:34

Info for Enescu: Piano Trio, Piano Quintet & Aria and Scherzino

In addition to being a world-class violinist, pianist, conductor, and teacher, George Enescu was a well-renowned composer. In fact, his most celebrated violin pupil, Yehudi Menuhin, made the prediction that Enescu’s compositions would become ‘one of the great discoveries of the twenty-first century’, and, indeed, in recent years Enescu’s works have become more widely performed.

This is the Schubert Ensemble’s second disc devoted to works by Enescu. Classic FM magazine wrote of the preceding volume: ‘The Schubert Ensemble can be applauded to the skies for bringing Enescu’s ridiculously neglected chamber music to the fore... excellent playing in a valuable disc that should help bring Enescu a step further towards the attention he deserves.’

The Piano Trio is one of the very few works that Enescu composed during the Second World War; however, it was not performed until years later, after it was discovered by the pianist Hilda Jerea who premiered it in 1967. After this performance the work disappeared from view for another three decades, until the Enescu authority Pascal Bentoiu presented his own in-depth edition of the work. The Schubert Ensemble planned to base this recording on Bentoiu’s edition of the score, but came to amend it in numerous ways after a close study of the composer’s heavily annotated manuscript: ‘Our admiration for Bentoiu increased as we worked, but we ended up making a large number of changes to his version, where we felt we could bring greater conviction to our performance and coherence to the piece… The end result of all this work was not an edition that we could claim is in any way definitive, and even necessarily an improvement on Bentoiu’s, but one that is our own and which helped us to feel more in touch with the piece and to bring greater conviction to our performance of it.’

Also on this disc, we find the brief Aria and Scherzino for violin, viola, cello, double-bass, and piano, and the Piano Quintet which, like the Piano Trio, was left unperformed for the duration of the composer’s lifetime. This work is inspired partly by folkdances, and partly by the compositional style of Enescu’s teacher, Gabriel Fauré.

The Schubert Ensemble has established itself over the last thirty years as one of the world’s leading exponents of music for piano and strings. Regularly giving more than fifty concerts a year in over forty different countries, it has more than eighty commissions to its name and has recorded more than thirty critically acclaimed CDs, many of them with Chandos Records.

"This is a superb performance [of the Quintet], alive to the music's every nuance, and pianist William Howard emerges as a very impressive primus inter pares...A very special release." (BBC Music Magazine)

"a splendidly idiomatic performance from the Romanian violinist Remus Azotei, light of touch but deep of perception...Enescu is capable of writing some complicated, even dense textures but the outcome is lucid, and lucidly recorded." (Gramophone Magazine)

"the reconstructed piano trio and, above all, the fine mature quintet prove undeservedly neglected in the Schubert Ensemble’s committed and passionate performances." (Sunday Times)

Schubert Ensemble

Schubert Ensemble
Founded in 1983, the Schubert Ensemble enjoyed a remarkable 35-year career, the last 23 with unchanged personnel, before deciding that 2018 would be its final season. The Ensemble leaves behind a significant legacy, and can look back on many memorable highlights. ​

Touring took them to major venues across the world in cities such as Tokyo, New York, Los Angeles and Amsterdam, but also to many extraordinary and unlikely venues in countries such as Nicaragua, Guatemala, Malaysia, Malta and Lebanon, to name but a few. In the UK the Ensemble was well known to audiences through regular broadcasts on BBC Radio 3 and Classic FM, performances for festivals and concert series throughout the country and regular appearances at London’s Wigmore Hall, Kings Place and South Bank Centre. In 1998 their contribution to music in the UK was recognised with Royal Philharmonic Society’s Best Chamber Group Award, for which they were shortlisted again in 2010. ​

Commissioning was always an important part of the Ensemble’s work, and they established ongoing relationships with many of the UK’s leading composers. Their final major commission, by Judith Weir, was their 50th and was premiered at Wigmore Hall in March 2018. These pieces sit alongside over 45 shorter works that were commissioned through the Ensemble’s Chamber Music 2000 project for young and amateur musicians. As well as creating this groundbreaking education project, the Ensemble always prioritised working with young musicians, and carried out over 500 workshops both in the UK and around the world, as well as having residencies at Bristol University, Wiltshire Music Centre, the Hall for Cornwall, Cardiff University, and Birmingham Conservatoire. ​

In the recording studio the Ensemble produced over 25 critically acclaimed CDs of repertoire ranging from Brahms and Fauré through to John Woolrich and Judith Weir. The Ensemble also created an extensive library of live filmed concerts that can be accessed free of charge on its YouTube channel. Always searching out new and interesting repertoire, the Ensemble championed previously neglected masterpieces by composers such as Enescu, Martinu, Chausson, Farrenc, Korngold and Vaughan Williams, as a result of which these works are now more widely played. The Ensemble’s own edition of Enescu’s Piano Trio will be published in 2019. ​

The Ensemble’s legacy lives on in many ways, but most tangibly in a new scheme to promote and fund performances of its many commissions, details of which can be found here. For highlights of the Ensemble's 35 years, click on the dates at the top of this page.

Booklet for Enescu: Piano Trio, Piano Quintet & Aria and Scherzino