Search - Georges Enesco, Lawrence Foster, José van Dam :: Enesco - Oedipe / van Dam · Hendricks · Lipovsek · Bacquier · Gedda · Courtis · Hauptmann · Quilico · Aler · Vanaud · Albert · Taillon · Foster

Yes, it's true: The greatest opera of the 20th century

david sapphire | boston, ma | 04/07/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I never write reviews. Mostly because of my conviction that experiencing music is an intimate and solitary enterprise. And a highly subjective one.
After Oedipe though, this philosophy MUST be suspended. It is, indeed, the most miraculous piece of work I've ever listened. It's been only four or five months since I listened to it for the first time. Ever since, I keep wondering what exactly are the obscure mechanisms that make it ignored by more or less everybody. I think NOTHING can justify this situation. A rather clumsy libretto apart, it is a flawless and fascinating masterpiece, and not even an obscure one. It would probably take a deaf person or a real snob to ignore its blatant musical beauty and originality.
Such situation made me wonder what else I've been ignoring while restricting my interests to the rather established repertoire.
I must ignore the ignominious review beneath, which praises van Dam, disgracing the music.
The performance is wonderful, flawless, orchestra and singers. Van Dam gives here one of his best performances (if not really the greatest). Fassbaender and Lipovsek are in amazingly good vocal shape, rendering hipnotizing effects.
In the meantime, I also acquired the 1964 recording (in Romanian, with Ohanesian), which made me praise the EMI effort even further. Foster version is much more intense and idiomatic (which is weird, i agree).Try it yourself, that's the only way you'll understand my fascination for this incredible masterpiece."

The greatest opera of this century

david sapphire | 10/03/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is Enescu's masterpiece at which, according to his student the late great Yehudi Menuhin, he worked constantly for something like twenty years. While this opera is not frequently performed here in the U.S. it is worth looking for it on CD, as it is recognized by many to be a supreme musical creation. I know of only one other recording of this opera aside from this one-- it was recorded in the 1960s, it is performed by the Enescu Philarmonica and the Romanian National Opera, and while the musicians seem extremely capable, the sound lets them down. Both these recordings are hard to find but the one conducted by Foster is impeccable both in its music and its sound. I am an avid listener of classical music and have heard no deeper, more inspiring music than Enescu's Oedipe. I also highly recommend his Symphonies No.2 and No.3 and his Orchestral Suite No.1."

Make it available domestically, EMI!

Arthur Leonard | New York, NY USA | 02/19/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I echo the previous reviewers in praising this recording to the skies. What great intensity! What great singing! Enescu's work is not in the repertory mainly, I think, because it lacks easily assimilated, memorable tunes, but it is intensely dramatic, and the orchestration just must be heard. The EMI recording is first-class, and it is a shame they have not kept it in the domestic US catalogue. Easiest way to get it: click over to amazon.co.uk and order it from England. I did this and had it in my hands within a week."