A prodigious talent as a performer, George Enescu was dubbed “the greatest musical phenomenon since Mozart” by Pablo Casals. His compositions occupy a special place...

A prodigious talent as a performer, George Enescu was dubbed “the greatest musical phenomenon since Mozart” by Pablo Casals. His compositions occupy a special place among the vast repertoire of works for violin and piano. Enescu wrote the spirited First Sonata aged 16, synthesizing the influence of Beethoven and Brahms into a work with rich, symphonic textures and remarkable polyphonic sophistication. The late Andantino malinconico is a haunting musical labyrinth, while the unpublished Tarantella is as close as Enescu came to writing a virtuoso violin morceau.