Romania's Finest

String Quartet No 1 and String Quartet No 2 by Enescu are seperated by over thirty years, the first being started during the Frist World War and completed in 1920 and the second being premiered in 1951. This is slightly misleading since the second had been a work in progress for much of the intervening years but the differences are nonetheless apparent. The first is more of a purely abstract intellectual construction showing sophisticated chromaticism, while in the second the influences of Romanian folk music can be more easily heard, in a similar way to Bartok in Hungary. Both works are played on this disk by Ad Libitum Quartet which formed appropriately at the George Enescu Academy of arts in Romania. I guess it's a bit of a cliche to say that they therefore have a deep affinity with the music but it is certainly a committed performance. Perhaps more famous during his lifetime as a virtuoso violinist and teacher, Enescu's music now has a chance to gradually take centre stage in future.