A First in Romania: More Than 30 Organizations Break the Daily Rhythm To Bring Enescu’s Ballade to the General Public
Enescu Festival Keeps an Open Invitation for Others To Join in and Share the Sound of Love
One of George Enescu’s most moving works, the Ballade, will be heard simultaneously on Thursday, August 19, starting at 12:15 PM (EEST), in several locations in Bucharest and other Romanian cities, as well as on several media channels, as part of the Sound of Love project initiated by the Enescu Festival to mark the 140th anniversary of the great composer’s birth.
In total, more than 30 media organizations, institutions, and private companies have already announced that they would join this initiative of the Enescu Festival, which aims to celebrate the birth of the Maestro without empty rhetoric, but instead with what he loved most – music – and in a manner that brings into the public space one of his main character traits – generosity. The list remains open and those who wish can share the link https://bit.ly/3AOuQkY from the Enescu Festival website, where the piece will be broadcast, and from the Festival’s Facebook page.
In Bucharest, the Ballade will be heard at the Bucharest City Hall, co-producer of the Enescu Festival; the Bucharest Metropolitan Library (in all 28 libraries and at its headquarters); the National Museum of Romanian Literature; ARCUB – Gabroveni Inn (Great Hall and Passage) and Coltea Park; Tandarica Animation Theatre; Ion Creanga Theatre; Odeon Theatre; Museum of Bucharest – Sutu Palace and Museum of Ages; State Circus, including the traveling Circus at the Izvor Park. The Ballad will also be heard in the George Enescu Square, courtesy of CREART, and in the park in front of the Odeon Theatre, from a loudspeaker on its balcony.
Several media channels will bring George Enescu’s music to diverse audiences across the country, changing their daily program in honor of the great composer. Enescu’s Ballade will be heard on the channels of the co-producers of the Enescu Festival – TVR 1, TVR 3, and the national radio broadcaster (Radio Romania Actualitati, Radio Romania Muzical, Radio Romania Cultural); in the programs and on the websites of the main media partners of the Festival: RFI Romania, Europa FM; on main partner PRIMA TV website; on platforms of media partners Antena 3 and urban.ro; in the cultural publication Metropolis, as well as from several TV and radio stations in Sibiu and Cluj.
The Ballad will also be broadcast on Raiffeisen Bank’s internal and external digital channels and will be heard at 12:15 PM by customers in Rompetrol stations; patients of SANADOR Clinics; customers shopping in CORA stores in Bucharest and across the country (Ploiesti, Constanta, Bacau, Cluj-Napoca); in Iulius Mall Cluj-Napoca, Promenada Mall Sibiu, Habermann Markt Sibiu, as well as by customers of several restaurants and cafes in Sibiu and Cluj.
The recording made available by the Enescu Festival in collaboration with its partners presents famous violinist David Garrett as a soloist, alongside the Monte Carlo Philharmonic under the baton of the late Gianluigi Gelmetti. The concert took place at the 2015 Enescu Festival and was a sold-out event.
Information on George Enescu’s Ballade
The Ballade for Violin and Orchestra Op. 4a, composed by George Enescu between 1895 and 1896 and dedicated to violinist Eva Rolland, is made up of a lyrical, warm, and sweet melody, juxtaposed to a central episode on the opposite pole, more dramatic, more rational, akin to a recitative.
Although the piece is inspired by Romanticism, Enescu’s deep love of the counterpoint and the Baroque era is evident in the choral character of the melody and the Corellian melodic cursivity of the piano accompaniment (that pizzicato effect played by the cello in the background). The work demonstrates the composer’s versatility in the way the main melody is treated as a bass melody when the accompaniment gets transferred to a higher register.
“Among his early compositions while in Paris are several works for violin, all written in 1895 and dedicated to Eva Rolland, a talented violinist who was the daughter of [Enescu’s] landlady. Among them is a violin sonata, written in a rather heavy Viennese style, but with very marked features characteristic of Enescu, such as the captivating exposition at the beginning, with the piano in octaves below the violin.” (Noel Malcolm, George Enescu: His Life and Music)
Information on the Sound of Love Project
The George Enescu International Festival celebrates George Enescu’s 140th birth anniversary on August 19, through the Sound of Love project. The project aims to make room for the healing and unifying power of music in a public space saturated with empty rhetoric, often ignoring what truly matters, marked by pandemic-fuelled aggression.
“This project is inspired by the credo and character of George Enescu, who we at the Enescu Festival believe deserves to be a role model for Romanians and beyond. Enescu lived for music and found in music the supreme expression of life and love. He was generous and attentive to other people but, at the same time, a man of boundless modesty. This is why, in a context where the pandemic and everyday challenges often leave us feeling disheartened, it’s important to find the right direction. Through The Sound of Love we want to bring into everyone’s life the grace of an encounter with George Enescu and the perspective that, no matter how great the challenges, we can find our direction through music and authentic values, and when we need reference points we can trust Enescu and his creation. In fact, the most eloquent of Enescu’s quotes for this project and for what we are doing at the 2021 Enescu Festival, as we mark a history of 25 editions made with love, is: To create is to love – for music is love or else nothing,” declared for the press Oana Marinescu, Communication Director, Enescu Festival.
Those who wish to enjoy 5 minutes of the Sound of Love and generously share this joy in the public space have various options, as follows:
- Private individuals can access this link on Thursday, August 19, starting at 12:15 PM (EEST), to listen to George Enescu’s Ballade. If they want to share this experience with others, they can pick up images on social media, under #SunetulIubirii, #Enescu140ani, and tag the Enescu Festival, open the windows of their cars if they are in traffic, so that the music can be heard, invite their friends and colleagues to take a break from their daily rhythms and recharge their batteries with the Sound of Love.
- Media organizations – TV and radio stations, online publications – are kindly asked to broadcast the 5 minutes of Enescu’s music on their own channels (radio, TV, online) simultaneously with the Festival at 12:15 PM. The Festival offers free of charge the right to play this recording for the project on August 19 and, if solicited, can also provide a recording to TV and radio stations.
- Public institutions and companies are kindly asked to broadcast George Enescu’s Ballade on their own internal channels to their employees and, as far as possible, to the general public. Any linked event organized by an institution/company/organization may be shared on social media platforms under #SunetulIubirii, #Enescu140ani, and a tag to the Enescu Festival, so that it can also be picked up on the Festival’s channels.
Further Information
The 2021 George Enescu International Festival is scheduled to take place between August 28 and September 26, 2021, with an exceptional musical program, sustained by over 3,500 international and Romanian artists for a record duration of 4 weeks, with measures in place to reduce potential health risks for audiences, artists, organizers, and journalists.
The full Program can be found on the festivalenescu.ro website.
Information on the purchase procedure and conditions of access is available on the Festival website, under the Tickets section. It is still possible that changes are made to the Program due to the pandemic. Access to the concert halls will only be allowed if sanitary conditions are observed; face masks will be mandatory indoors at all times.
