Enescu: Oedipe

Opera no

Enescu: Oedipe

Soloists

Vienna State Opera

Michael Gilen

This was a very different sort of opera to the overtly nationalist pieces I have covered in the last few days of this project. It is a much later piece and less overtly nationalistic. 

Last year I listened to the Enescu octet as part of my 365 project. That was an impressive work and I said that at point I would liste to this opera.https://andrew365newpieces.blogspot.com/2025/04/enescu-octet.html.  I’m glad I did. It is an impressive work which had many admirers. Stylistically it is quite hard to place.  There are some moments which sound almost Bergian, but the language is broadly tonal and at times I was reminded of early 20th century French symbolist opera. Dukas and Chausson come to mind as well as Pelléas. The end, in particular, was very much in that tradition. I suspect that it is a piece that needs several hearings to fully appreciate its subtleties and I will certainly be returning to it. But on this first impression I can fully understand why the piece has a high reputation among opera connoisseurs.