Albany Records has released a stellar interpretation of Romanian composer George Enescu's "Impressions from childhood", performed by world reknown violonist Sherban Lupu and Sinfonia Varsovia.
George Enescu was an extraordinary musician. One of the most acclaimed violinists of the last century, he was also an accomplished pianist, conductor, and composer. As a composer he is still too little known and his music too little analyzed outside his native Romania. His music exhibits a very personal blend of time-honored procedures, forward-thinking techniques, and ethnic intimations. The works on this recording belong to the last period of his career and show a rare maturity and depth that contribute to a unique and sometimes difficult to define language.
Romanian-born Sherban Lupu studied at the Guildhall School of Music where he took master classes under legendary violinists Yehudi Menuhin, Henryk Szeryng, and Nathan Milstein. Mr. Lupu has won prizes in numerous competitions, among which Vienna International, Romanian National String Quartet, Jacques Thibaud in Paris, Carl Flesch International in London, Royal Society of Arts, and the Park Lane Group Contest. He has been a member of the English Chamber Orchestra, the London Mozart Players, and the Mainz Chamber Orchestra. In 1976, Sherban Lupu came to the United States to study violin with Dorothy Delay and Josef Gingold, and receive chamber music coaching from Menahem Pressler. Mr. Lupu has also been associate concertmaster of the San Francisco Opera and concertmaster and artistic advisor of the Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra. He specializes in the music of his native Romania and Eastern Europe, as well as the virtuoso romantic repertoire. A leading interpreter of George Enescu's music, he has recorded works of Ysaye, Bartok, Enescu, Wieniawsky, Stravinsky, Ginastera, for the ASV, Arabesque, for the British recording company Continuum, and for the BBC. He was also the artistic director of the Gubbio Festival in Italy, and is currently professor of violin at the University of Illinois. Mr. Lupu is also a member of the George Enescu Chamber Players and the Chicago Ensemble.
CD available at Albany Records and Arkivmusic