Enescu: Piano Quintet; Piano Trio; Aria and Scherzino

Here are two sizeable works which Romania's greatest composer somehow lost sight of – neither surfaced until the 1960s, a decade or so after his death. The 1940 Piano Quintet is in that fluid, multi-stranded style that almost suggests Enescu allowed himself to become intoxicated, delirious or light-headed through the sheer fertility of his melodic invention. The Piano Trio of 1916 has a more consistent harmonic anchorage and proceeds mostly in rather more conventional ways. The short Aria and Scherzino, for solo violin, string quartet, double bass and piano of 1908, was written to show the violin's singing qualities and rapid responsiveness at an instrument makers' competition. Romanian violinist joins the Schubert Ensemble as a seductive demonstrator. url.ie/f1f2