SACDs - Enescu

The young 2L label shows the tremendous scope of its activities in the six

discs released this month. All recorded in state-of-the-art compatible SACD

format, the repertoire ranges from Gregorian Chant for Lent and Holy Week, to

the music of Ola Gjeilo, very much a 21st-century post-modernist composer-performer, and Arne Nordheim, probably Norway’s best-known contemporary composer.

The Nordheim disc demonstrates the other strand in 2L’s release programme:

young Norwegian artists – in this case the Cikada Duo. There is also a live recording of an excellent concert given by pianist Steffen Horn (Dussek, Grieg,

Rachmaninov and Prokofiev), and two discs devoted to young violinists in 20th

century repertoire: Annar Follesø playing Bartók, and an enticing coupling of

sonatas by Richard Strauss and George Enescu, played by Kolbjørn Holthe

accompanied by Tor Espen Aspaas.

Attractive and unusual “book” style presentation completes the picture, giving

instant ‘eye appeal’. Certainly, all worth checking out.

Luiza Borac caused a sensation with her debut disc for Avie, of Enescu’s Three Piano Suites. The disc garnered unanimous critical acclaim and secured her place on the musical map. Luiza is the greatest living exponent of her compatriot’s endlessly revelatory piano music. For her second offering of Enescu’s solo piano music she has unearthed two works, the Nocturne and the Scherzo, making her survey the most complete available set on the market. George Enescu was “the greatest musical phenomenon since Mozart” according to Pablo Casals. He was boundlessly prodigious yet only 33 works are known to survive, probably the result of his staggering capacity to maintain entire musical creations in his mind without committing them to manuscript. Hence, of his three piano sonatas only Nos. 1 and 3 exist today! Luiza’s empathetic interpretations are themselves a revelation making this an outstanding contribution to the catalogue.