Chamber Symphony (Enescu)
The Chamber Symphony, Op. 33, in E major, is a symphony written for twelve instruments, and the last work finished by the Romanian composer George Enescu. History. The earliest ideas eventually taken up in the Chamber Symphony date back to a sketch for a septet for winds and piano, dating from around the time of the Octet for strings, Op. 7 (1900). The score is dated May 1954, a year before his death but less than two months before Enescu suffered the cerebral stroke in July that made all work impossible. The final markings to the score  had to be dictated to Marcel Mihalovici. The score is dedicated to the Association of Chamber Music Concerts of Paris and its permanent conductor Fernand Oubradous. The work was performed for the first time in a concert commemorating the first anniversary of the composer's death, at the Romanian Athenaeum in Bucharest. Constantin Silvestri conducted the performance and, when it received only a tepid response from the audience, announced, "This work is Enescu's masterpiece; it is more difficult to grasp than others, because of its very advanced language. Therefore, we shall perform it once more in its entirety." After  this second hearing, it was a great success . The work 'waited' for 57 years to be performed in the UK. The UK Premiere took place on 19 September 2011 in Kings Place, London. It was performed by the London Schubert Players and conducted by Hu Kun with Enescu's own baton. The concert, entitled 'Enescu’s Farewell', was part of London Schubert Players' international project 'Invitation to Composers' for the European Commission, 2009-2011. This live performance is featured on Nimbus Alliance 3CD set 'A European Odyssey' and on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPLgIBlRgbpwf6CM6n2C4gw/video . The project was initiated by Anda Anastasescu - pianist and  artistic director of the London Schubert Players - who also took part as a pianist in the symphony's first UK performance. Seven composers from Romania, UK, Norway, Sweden, France and Italy joined the project and took up the challenge of writing works for the same combination of 12 instruments, inspired by Enescu's Chamber Symphony. The World Premieres of the new works were performed in London's King's Place and the Royal Academy of Music on 19 September and 23 October 2011. Instrumentation. The work is scored for twelve instruments: flute, oboe, cor anglais, clarinet, bassoon, horn, trumpet, violin , viola, cello, doublebass, and piano. Analysis. The Chamber Symphony transcends the cyclical principles of Enescu's earlier works, in that the entire composition is constructed as a single sonata-allegro overarching entity, cast in four movements: