Sunday, September 17, 2023
Radio Hall, Bucharest, Romania
This third of seven Enescu Festival events on this particular Sunday (not untypical in terms of numbers, the first of which was the Romanian Radio Chamber Orchestra playing in the Odeon Theatre) found this lunchtime concert by a good orchestra from Iași including a suite-like Symphony that I found very uninteresting. However, Florian Mitrea gave a scintillating account of the Prokofiev, also debonair and witty, and if the accompaniment was a little raw, it was coordinated and faithful to Mitrea’s plotting. His encore defeated me for identification purposes, although its lyrical Eastern European leanings made me wonder about Enescu himself, and if proof were needed that Mitrea can play finger-loads of notes accurately at speed this was it.
Sadly, reception now became intermittent, so I cannot comment on the rest of this concert.
HANKYEOL YOON conductor
FLORIAN MITREA piano
Munteanu Symphony No. 2
Prokofiev Piano Concerto No.1 in D flat major Op. 10
Žebeljan Hum away, strings
Bartók The Miraculous Mandarin Suite