Vilde Frang Bartok - Violin Concerto No. 1 + Romanian Dances / Enescu - Octet For Strings CD

Following her 2016 Warner Classics release of the Britten and Korngold violin concertos, praised by The Sunday Times as "A bold coupling, superbly executed," Vilde Frang goes back several decades in musical history to make another imaginative pairing: Bartók's Violin Concerto No 1 (composed in 1907) and a large-scale chamber piece, Enescu's Octet for Strings (dating from 1900).

Bela Bartok and George Enescu were born in same Year - 1881, Bartok in the Austrian-Hungarian city of Nagyszentmiklos (today Romania), Enescu in the Moldovian town of Liveni-Botosani (today Romania).

Both pieces on this recording are youth works of theirs - 1900 (Enescu Octet) and 1907 (Bartoks 1st violin concerto).

Both works were neglected - Enescus Octet for nearly a decade due to the challenges of the piece (being premiered in 1909), and Bartoks concerto was neglected by its dedicatee, the violinist Stefi Geyer (who was also his young love), and was published only after her death, in 1956 (being premiered in 1958).

Bartok and Enescu both died in self-chosen exile - Bartok 1945 in New York, Enescu 1955 in Paris - yet both were respected and admired for being contributers to the development of their countries' culture and art, particularly as great ambassadors for the folk music.