One of the highlights of my summer at Bowdoin was discovering the 3rd Violin Sonata by Georges Enesco. The Eastern European influence that one finds in the works of composers such as Brahms, Dvorak, or Janacek almost pales in comparison with the moments of wonder to be found in this sonata that place it far, far, away from the European mainstream most of us are most comfortable with. Enesco uses microtones prominently in this movement, not with any modernist agenda but as a haunting evocation of a regional style whose beginnings are as lost as the origins of the Romani.
Performing on this audio-only YouTube of the first movement are violinist Georges Enesco with Dinu Lipatti on piano.
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